Book 1: Poseidon's Call
by TheMytho
Summary: Percy has disappeared from Camp Half-Blood, leaving Annabeth distraught and insecure. Only one question remains in Annabeth's mind: Where is Percy? Will Annabeth successfully rescue Percy with the help of Katie and Travis? Mainly Percabeth, with some Tratie.
1. Chapter 1: The Missing Hero

**Chapter 1**

"Percy...Where are you..." Annabeth looked out into the sea, its green colours reminding her greatly of the Hero of Olympus - twice, in fact. The sea looked darker than usual, the disappearance of the hero affecting the morale of the entire camp.

Ever since the Hero - Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson - disappeared from Camp Half-Blood, everyone had gone into a state of frenzy. Grover had started to chew on his own fingers when he ran out of tin cans in his burly sac, with Juniper trying to console him to the best of her abilities; Clarisse frantically mobilising the entire camp in preparation for an all-out search party; Nico constantly shifting in and out of existence, with Will trying to keep him in the present long enough to tear out his own hair; even Dionysus looked slightly troubled, losing a few games of Pinochle to Chiron.

Annabeth, on the other hand, had shut herself off completely from everyone else. Malcolm could no longer speak to her without her having a full-blown panic attack; Chiron could no longer act as the mentor that he once was for Annabeth. Left with no other choice, Chiron was forced to appoint Malcolm as the new cabin counsellor, claiming that "it was time for a new change" when everyone knew the true reason - Annabeth could no longer function properly ever since Percy was gone.

Annabeth's room was left unkempt, simply because no one resided in there anymore. Annabeth had taken up an officially-temporary-but-unofficially-permanent residence in the Poseidon cabin. It was the only thing that kept her from breaking into uncontrollable sobs in the middle of her training or screaming hysterically while teaching the new campers Greek, scaring them half-to-death. But it didn't truly help - every night, the entire Camp Half-Blood would still be jolted awake by bloodcurdling screams emanating from the Poseidon Cabin. During the first night, everyone had thought the Camp was under attack, but they soon realised it was coming from the Poseidon Cabin, where Annabeth had sneaked inside just to calm herself down, though unsuccessfully. It became a daily routine - Chiron literally had to stand outside the Poseidon Cabin at 3 am every morning to calm the distraught demigod before she caused harm to herself or disrupted the sleeping schedules of the other campers. (Though the Ares cabin, closest to the Poseidon Cabin, wanted to murder Annabeth every night for interrupting their beauty sleep.)

The twin sons of Despoina had tried to decode any hidden messages or hints of Percy's whereabouts in his last letter addressed to Annabeth, but to no avail, though they did come to the conclusion that it was, indeed, written by Percy:

 _Dear Annabeth,_

 _By the time you are reading this letter, I will most likely be gone. I know that you are probably wondering why I am writing this letter. Well, I am writing this letter because I want to tell you that I'm breaking up with you._

 _I have left Camp Half-Blood. Please don't send anyone to find me._

 _Love,  
_ _Percy_

During a cabin counsellor meeting (of which Annabeth had been missing), they had all come to the conclusion that something was amiss with the letter. For Zeus' sake, Percy's fatal flaw was loyalty! Moreover, that letter was devoid of any grammatical or spelling errors - something Percy could not possibly accomplish on his own.

Thus, they derived at the only conclusion:

Percy did not leave on his own.

He had been taken.

* * *

 **A/N**

 _Hi guys! I'm actually not dead, contrary to popular belief :P_

 _I know, I haven't edited in like 3 years (maybe slightly more than that). Thing was, I kinda gave up on writing fanfiction for that short period of time. But now, with loads of time on my hands, I've decided to re-edit everything, and hopefully, continue on with the story. (Technically, it's storIES coz Book1, Book2, etc. :P)_

 _Also, some pretty major updates:_

 _-_ I will no longer be writing in POVs, coz I realised that it's quite stupid - the switching back and forth. So I'll be writing in third person for all.

\- The prophecy will still remain the same.

\- Hopefully, my language has improved from 3 years ago. :D


	2. Chapter 2: The Final Breakdown

**Chapter 2**

"I want to go on a quest."

Chiron looked to the door in surprise. He, just like anyone else in Camp Half-Blood, had been troubled by the disappearance of Perseus Jackson. He had hoped that the demigod could finally have some peace and quiet with his lover, Annabeth. Alas, the Fates seemed to have more in store for him.

 _That poor boy_ , he thought, _he's been through far worse than any demigod I've ever come across. Even Odysseus had it better than Percy._

"Is there something I can help you with, Annabeth?" Chiron asked, not quite catching what Annabeth said.

Annabeth looked directly in Chiron's eyes. "I want to go on a quest," she repeated.

Chiron widened his eyes in surprise. _This is, well, unexpected_ , Chiron thought, before motioning Annabeth to enter. _Her eyes,_ _they've changed. There is a more...fiery expression in them now._

Annabeth shut the door swiftly behind her, before entering the Big House, ignoring Seymour even as it whimpered at Annabeth, missing her a lot. (Hey, even heads can have feelings!)

"I want to go and find Percy. I'm leaving tonight." Annabeth stared defiantly but determined.

Chiron smiled inwardly. _This is the Annabeth I know._ "Now, now, let's not get rash-"

"I'm not. I've thought this through. I'm going to save Percy, with or without your permission." Annabeth persisted, her eyes aflame.

Chiron sighed. "Dear, as much as I would like to find Percy ASAP, I'm afraid that we can't afford to sacrifice another camper. Dionysus already brings news of another war on our hands, and we need your help again."

"We were not told about that," Annabeth exclaimed, "Haven't Percy and I done enough already? What more do you want from us?"

Chiron sighed again. "You would have heard of the war news if you had attended any of the camp meetings. I really do hope you understand, dear, but we cannot afford to lose another camper! All campers are already prohibited from leaving the Camp during summer break, which is already a drastic measure, and I cannot afford to make any exceptions."

"I just need one quest. One quest, to bring Percy back. I'm sure the campers will understand! Please, Chiron, this is the last thing I'll ask-"

"I'm sorry, Annabeth, but there isn't really anything I can do. Please, don't make it harder than it already is for me." Chiron shuffled over to his chair and slumped in it.

Annabeth's eyes were burning with unbridled anger, but she stepped back nonetheless. "Yes, _sir_." She spat, before turning on her heels and marching towards the door.

"Wait, hold on, don't let your hubris get to-" He swiftly stood up, but was rudely interrupted by the slam of the door, leaving nothing but dust swirling in its wake. "Oh Zeus," Chiron collapsed onto his wheelchair and rubbing his face with his hands, "What have I done?"

* * *

Annabeth marched straight towards the Oracle Cave, before banging her hands on the door. "Rachel? RACHEL!"

"For Zeus' sake, shut up! I swear you're louder than Apollo in the morn- Oh, hey." Rachel opened the door, surprised to see none other than Annabeth in front of her. Rachel knew how Percy's disappearance was affecting Annabeth and was thus curious as to why she had appeared in front of the Oracle's door. "Can I help you, Annabeth?"

"I need a quest. Give me a prophecy."

"Woah, hold up! You know prophecies don't just up like that! What on earth are you going on a quest for? Does Chiron know?"

"I'm going to save Percy. Whether Chiron knows or not, that's none of your business. Just give me a prophecy!" Annabeth demanded.

Rachel squinted her eyes suspiciously. If she had known better, she'd thought that Annabeth had been possessed by Ares. _Since when was she that stuck-up?_ "Look, I know you're affected by Percy's disappearance - we all are - but you can't be that disrespectful towards everyone you talk to! I'm coming towards you as a friend, I hope you under-"

"SHUT UP! No one understands my pain, no one!" Annabeth yelled, tears forming in her eyes. "They don't have to see life going on as the one you love being taken from you every single day! They don't have to be constantly reminded by everyone that their lover is gone!" Annabeth suddenly broke down, dropping to her knees.

Rachel did not plan for things to go this way. Putting a reassuring hand on Annabeth's shoulder, she led her inside. "I'm sorry, I did not mean to bring any bad memories. But as much as I would like to help you, I can't. Normally before a prophecy, I get this weird feeling behind me, but I don't sense any incoming prophecy soon. Believe me, I want Percy back as badly as you do."

Annabeth nodded, still sobbing into Rachel's shoulder as they hugged, Annabeth clutching onto Rachel's shoulder. When Annabeth finally pulled over, she muttered a quick apology before running out of the Oracle House.

Rachel looked on worriedly. "I hope she doesn't do anything foolish. If only Percy were here; he'd know what to do."

* * *

 **A/N**

 _So Chapter 2._

 _Please leave reviews :D_

 _I will (hopefully) be following a strict schedule of updating once every 3 days (or maybe a month). It is the holidays for me now tho, so probably once every 3 days, or even shorter. At least until 28 June._

 _Also, I lied. Some more things have changed :P :_

 _-_ Annabeth and Percy are 18+ (After Blood of Olympus)

\- The prophecy is gonna change. Keep reading to find out what it changes to :D (Hopefully for the better :P)

 _Also, do you guys prefer frequent updates and chapters of this length (around 800-1000 words) or slightly less frequent updates (maybe once a week), but much longer chapters (maybe 2000-5000 words?)_


	3. Chapter 3: Going Rogue

**_Chapter 3_**

 _I'm going to save Percy, with or without anyone's help._ _At this rate, Percy will be dead!_ Annabeth's heart clenched at that thought. _No, I cannot let that happen. It is for his sake, as much as it is for mine. We already saved the world twice, when will all this end?_ Annabeth stared into the sky, as she slowly wandered towards the lake, the place that reminded her the most of Percy. As she sat down next to the creek, with the sea breeze blowing gently past her, her mind drifted to a flashback.

* * *

"Annabeth," Percy suddenly blurted out, wrapping his hand over Annabeth's. "Let's get married."

Annabeth nearly fell into the water, seated right next to the creek with Annabeth leaning against Percy's shoulder. "WHAT! Are you serious right now?" Annabeth hissed, flushed.

Percy's eyes widened, suddenly realising what he had just said. "Wait, no, that's not what I meant, uh..." Percy trailed off, realising that Annabeth was smirking at him.

Calming himself, Percy continued, "What I mean is, someday, when all this is over; when we can finally pretend to be mortals and not have to deal with all this demigod shit, we can move to Camp Jupiter, start a family, grow old together, and finally lead a normal life, you know? Build something permanent together. We've been dating for around 2 years already. You're 18 already, and I'm reaching 18 soon... and I'm rambling. I'll stop now." Percy brushed his hand gently against Annabeth's cheek, blushing slightly. "I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes."

Annabeth flushed further. She pulled him into a kiss, stopping only to come up for air. With only their foreheads touching, she murmured, "If you don't mind, I don't want to wait any longer."

Percy scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Annabeth giggled, "What do you think I mean?" Annabeth drawled innocently.

Realisation dawned upon Percy, "OH! Really, Annabeth, really?"

"I think the Fates have screwed us over enough times already, don't you think? Do you remember what I said on your 16th birthday?"

"That I should get used to you never, ever going to make things easy for you?"

"I think I'm gonna go back on my words and say 'Yes'."

Percy beamed with happiness, and Annabeth swore the sea was lapping against the beach in sync with his heartbeat. Then, he groaned. "Oh God, we'll have to break the news to everyone else, don't we?"

"Well, just because things are easier with me, doesn't mean things will be easier with others! Imagine my mum's reaction when she hears about this." Annabeth giggled.

"She probably already knows, being a god and all. She's going to kill me, isn't she?" Percy sighed dramatically.

"We can tell them tomorrow." Annabeth held Percy's hands tightly as they looked on into the sunset, sending trickles of golden ray onto the water surface, as Annabeth and Percy bravely readied themselves for the future.

* * *

That was the last time Annabeth had seen Percy. Before they could break the news to anyone, Percy had promptly left, leaving the letter on his bed.

At first, things didn't add up for Annabeth: the letter, addressed to Annabeth, was placed on Percy's neatly folded bed, something that Percy never managed to accomplish during his 4 years in camp (well technically only 3, considering much of his 4th year was in Camp Jupiter). And it seemed even odder that Percy left shortly after proposing.

But that didn't stop the rumours from going around in Camp Half-Blood.

"Looks like their relationship was a fake after all."  
"A son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena dating? It was simply impossible, to begin with!"  
"I bet Aphrodite was toying with their minds!"

When the senior campers heard these rumours, they were furious and gave all the newer campers a piece of their minds, but the damage had been done. And even then, the whispers didn't stop, until Annabeth couldn't distinguish the whispers of others and those in her head, not quite disappearing after her stroll through Tartarus.

Annabeth started questioning herself, wondering if Percy's feelings for her were true, if Percy was merely toying with Annabeth's mind. Annabeth's logical side knew that Percy would never do such a thing, but Annabeth's insecurity took over slowly but surely.

Annabeth had finally decided to take matters into her own hand, thus demanding to go on a quest to find Percy.

Just then, Annabeth felt a familiar scent in the air - the slightly salty, sea-like smell that lingered in the air. Turning around, she was disappointed to find not Percy, but Poseidon, though she carefully masked her feelings well and bowed, "Lord Poseidon."

"Just call me Poseidon. I know this may be a hard time for you, but I ask of one last favour from you."

Unable to mask her anger, she hissed, "Percy, your son, is gone, and here you still ask a favour from me? Do you even know where he is since you're a God?"

Poseidon merely sighed, understanding Annabeth's frustration. "As much as I would like to simply snap my fingers and allow Percy to be freed from his captivity, I cannot simply do that. You of all people should know, daughter of Athena. Gods cannot interfere in the mortal world."

"Wait, Percy's been captured? Where is he?" Annabeth frantically asked.

"I would like to tell you to ease the pain in your heart, but alas, it seems that something is interfering with the Gods' signals."

"Damn..." Annabeth murmured.

Poseidon coughed, "Anyways, I'm here to ask you for a favour. Would you lead a quest to rescue my son?"

"I already asked Chiron, but he refused. And there were no prophecies from Rachel, the Oracle!"

"And since when does that stop Percy?"

That broke Annabeth out of her thoughts. Looking up at Poseidon, she realised that there was a sad, yet mischievous looking smile on his bearded face. At that moment, Annabeth knew exactly what to do. "Thank you, Poseidon. How will I ever repay you?"

"I suppose for starters, you could help to save Percy, and give him happiness for the rest of his life."

Annabeth reddened but nodded determinedly. "I promise I'll get him back, no matter what."

"However, Annabeth, be wary, for he may not be himself when you get him back. Remember that deep down, Percy is still there." Poseidon warned.

"What do you me-" Before Annabeth could finish, Poseidon dissolved into thin air, leaving nothing but a puddle of seawater in his wake.

 _At least I now have a plan in mind._

Walking back to her cabin for the first time in years, she started preparing for her journey, writing a letter to Chiron in the meantime:

 _Dear Chiron,_

 _I'm sorry for going against orders, but I had to go and rescue Percy.  
_

 _I love him too much to give him up._

 _From,  
_ _Annabeth Chase_

Grabbing her Yankees baseball cap and Drakon Bone sword given to her by Damasen, she slipped into the Poseidon Cabin. That night, she fell into a sleep, not plagued with nightmares, but with a different dream...

* * *

Annabeth was greeted by her mom, Athena. "Mom! What are you doing here? Where am I?" Annabeth looked around, scanning her surroundings.

"It doesn't matter where you are now, but I'm here to help you, Annabeth. As much as I hate the sea spawn, it pains me to see you in such a state."

"He has a name, you know? His name is Percy." Annabeth hissed.

Sighing, Athena continued, "Love is one thing I will never come to comprehend. But I digress. Annabeth, I did not come here to argue with you about your relationship with that boy. I'm here to help you with your rescue. Do not worry about the lack of prophecy with your quest, one will come soon enough."

"Can I really succeed alone?" Annabeth inquired.

"You won't be alone, and you have to succeed, for the sake of both our worlds and the mortal world. Times are changing, Annabeth, and I fear you and your fiance are once again caught in the midst of chaos."

Tearing up, Annabeth balled her fists. "Why do we have such terrible lives, mom? Why are the fates so against me and Percy? We have already saved the world twice!"

"I know, Annabeth, I know. But as they say, 'Third time's the charm.' Good luck, Annabeth. You will need it. I can only pray that your heart is as strong as your mind."

* * *

When Annabeth awoke, it was on the brink of dawn. Wearing her Yankees cap, she quickly slipped into the forest, straight towards Thalia's Pine, up Half-Blood Hill.

However, she found herself suddenly trapped in a messy trap of roots and twigs. Had she been thinking clearly, she would have immediately spotted the clearly placed trap, but that morning, her mind was scrambling everywhere, trying to make sense of what both Poseidon and Athena had told her.

Cursing under her breath, she tried to free herself from the trap, before spotting Juniper and Grover marching straight up to her. "Annabeth? I know you're there!" Grover shouted. Annabeth realised that her Yankees Cap was still on, and considered leaving it on and hiding, before realising that she was still stuck in a trap.

Removing her Yankees Cap, Annabeth tried for a smile, though it came out weak, "Hey, guys! Fancy seeing you guys here!"

Juniper shot her a sympathetic look. "We know why you're here, Annabeth. Chiron warned us that you would try to leave to find Percy on your own. No one, especially you, is to leave camp without his specific permission."

"You guys have to understand, I met Poseidon and Athena. They need me to go on this quest!"

Grover said in pity, "Annabeth, no offence, but you're becoming delusional. Haven't you noticed? Dionysus is no longer around Camp anymore, just like 3 years ago! Zeus has forbidden any contact between us demigods and the Gods!"

Annabeth's eyes widened in shock. "NO! You're lying! You're all lying! I'm going to save Percy, with or without your help, with or without Chiron's permission!"

Snarling, she readied her sword and slashed at the trap of roots, not noticing that Juniper winced a little. "Wait! Hold on! We don't want to fight, Annabeth!" Grover held up his arms. "Please, just put down your sword, we'll bring you to Chiron! I'm sure Chiron will order a quest to save Percy soon-"

"It will be too late by then! You know it just as much as I do, Grover! Your empathy link, you can feel that Percy's disappearing by the second, can't you? What have you not been telling us, Grover?"

Grover hesitated slightly. "That's not the point, Annabeth! Your mind is unstable right now, we need to get you help!"

"A daughter of Annabeth, with a faulty mind! I think you're the one that needs fixing!" Annabeth hissed, unable to control her emotions. Swiftly, she ran up to Grover and swung her sword wildly, not before Juniper tried to entangle her within her roots again. Instead, Juniper received a sharp gash down her side. Not long after, green blood started flowing out of her side at an alarming rate.

"JUNIPER!" Grover howled, before whipping out his reed pipes. Before he could play any tunes, however, Annabeth knocked him out quickly with a sharp knock on his head. He crumpled to the floor, lying next to Juniper.

Annabeth's mind suddenly cleared, before dropping to her knees. "What have I done?" Annabeth gasped, staring at her own hands. Her head swiftly turned when she heard the sounds of Katie and Travis whispering slightly. Annabeth quickly steeled her nerves and slipped her Yankees cap right back on. Muttering a quick apology to both Grover and Juniper, she prayed to the Gods that Katie and Travis that they would find Juniper and bring her to the infirmary in time, before quickly scampering off Half-Blood Hill, passing Thalia's Pine, and out of Camp Half-Blood.

* * *

Katie and Travis were having a wonderful morning. The two of them shared a secret but no-so-secret relationship, and could only afford to go on dates only in the wee hours of the morning before they made their relationship public.

As the two of them held hands and shared a secret smile, Katie suddenly sensed a disturbance in the woods to her left. Motioning for Travis to follow, she soon found herself staring at horror at an unconscious Grover, and Juniper that was slowly bleeding to death. She heard a scampering to her front and managed to catch a glimpse of a Drakon bone sword belonging to Annabeth before the person disappeared. "Quick, Travis, get a medic here!"

She quickly applied pressure to Juniper's wound, struggling to hold her down even as she whimpered in pain. However, Juniper was still losing blood quickly, and Katie was beginning to lose hope until Will suddenly appeared from shadows, with Nico and Travis in tow.

Katie quickly made way for Will, before tending to Grover to spot if he had any injuries other than the obvious bump on his head. Will quickly muttered enchantments under his breath and began sending waves of healing energy towards Juniper. Will managed to close the bleeding wound briefly, not before Nico stopped Will to prevent him from collapsing in exhaustion.

With the aid of the wood nymphs, they carried the injured back to the infirmary, where there were more Apollo campers waiting to heal the wounded.

Chiron looked gravely at Travis and Katie as they told Chiron what happened, Chiron noticed that they did leave out the reason as to why they were even wondering about in the forest in the first place. Soon after, Chiron sounded the conch horn, signalling an immediate cabin counsellor meeting.

"As you all may have heard, Juniper and Grover have been injured. Right now, our only suspect is Annabeth, who is also reported missing throughout this entire ordeal."

"But sir," Malcolm protested, "Annabeth would never injure a fellow camper!"

"As much as I would like to believe that, Malcolm, the evidence proves otherwise. In fact, the wood nymphs saw for themselves. Annabeth struck Grover and Juniper. We are unsure if Annabeth's actions are intentional, but one thing is for sure. Annabeth's mind is extremely unstable right now, due to the disappearance of Percy."

A collective gasp settled around the Big House as everyone tried to digest this new information - even Clovis, the son of Hypnos, was not dozing off in this meeting.

"It is not the first time it has happened, but it will definitely not be the last either," Chiron continued. "Annabeth has gone rogue, and all campers have orders to incapacitate her, or even kill her if deemed necessary, on sight."

* * *

 **A/N**

 _3rd Chapter :D_

 _I decided to try out for one chapter, regarding the longer chapter approach. Do review to tell me your thoughts, they'd be appreciated :D_


	4. Chapter 4: Sally Jackson

**Chapter 4**

When news of Annabeth going rogue flew through Camp Half-Blood, the senior campers were shocked, to say the least. They had not been expecting such news. Sure, they recognised that the love between Annabeth and Percy was not a simple one - the Aphrodite campers were constantly exclaiming about the "best love story ever", and how even Aphrodite would be unable to sway their feelings towards each other at all (not that she would want to cancel out any love that they had for each other). The other 5 demigods on the quest to save Olympus knew that their bond was further strengthened by whatever they had gone through in Tartarus. They knew that whatever they experienced in Tartarus was far worse than anyone's imagination, and they respected that, giving them space to ward off any lingering evil in their minds.

And so, when Annabeth finally succumbed to 'insanity', as Chiron had not-so-subtly put it, the senior campers could only look on in sadness as the junior campers - those that did not truly know what had happened to Annabeth or Percy - began to spread terrible rumours.

"The greatest love story, my foot! They just can't stop getting themselves into each other's' pants!"  
"A daughter of Athena, losing her mind? Serves her right!"  
"I bet Percy was so fed up with Annabeth that he just left her! That's what he said in the letter anyway, right?"

The senior campers had desperately tried to put a stop to the rumours from tarnishing their reputations. However, with the Gods not even bothering to lift a finger to clear any misunderstandings, and the senior campers being part of the minority (Ever since the Gods promised to pay more attention to the demigods, and that they would be claimed before their 13th birthday, the junior campers had literally flooded Camp Half-Blood), they were unable to stop any damage to the reputation of The Architect of Olympus.

Grover had woken up, and could only look on reproachfully as the campers slowly tore apart all the efforts and recognition that Percy and Annabeth had put in, saving Olympus, and possibly the world, twice. He was still very worried about Juniper, whose side would permanently have a scar, but he did not blame Annabeth, knowing that her emotions had gotten the better of her in that short moment. _How did Camp Half-Blood come to this state?_ Grover sighed. However, what Annabeth said had indeed struck him – the empathy link between him and Percy had never died down, and he could feel as though Percy was slipping away. Grover still did not fully understand why exactly Annabeth had attacked him and Juniper, and thus he concluded that there was some truth to Chiron's words. Grover did not want Annabeth to be deemed a reprobate, though he held no say despite being the Lord of the Wild.

 _All these happened only because Percy disappeared…_

Meanwhile in Olympus…

Aphrodite giggled as she stared at her ultra-television, thoroughly enjoying the show that Annabeth was putting up. _Ahh, love does indeed know no limits and transcends all boundaries._ _Though_ , Aphrodite thought, _I feel kind of bad for what Annabeth and Percy had to go through. Even Helen of Troy had a better life!_

* * *

Annabeth trudged all the way back to the city of Long Island. _I could probably call the Gray Sisters' cab if I wanted to, but I don't have any drachma to pay them. Plus,_ she thought, _they're not exactly fond of me since their last visit._ Annabeth, however, was puzzled, having received little to no advice or instructions from neither Poseidon nor Athena. _I guess I could begin by visiting Percy's parents and telling them about Percy. They probably don't even know that Percy Is missing. Poor Sally…_ Annabeth thought as she waved down a New York City taxi.

On the taxi ride to Sally Jackson's apartment, Annabeth thought of what Grover had said. _Me, going delusional? Impossible, it is simply unheard of for a daughter of Athena to go insane! But if what Grover said was true, then what were those instances when both Poseidon and my mom visited me? No, there must be some truth behind what happened._

Upon arrival at her destination, she quickly paid her taxi fare and climbed out. Fortunately for her, she had not encountered any monsters along the way, though she could see, out of her mind a few _empousai_ staring at her from down the streets, even spotting a _hellhound_ attempting to hide behind a dustbin, snarling viciously.

Feeling extremely nervous when walking up the steps to Sally Jackson's house, she gave a few sharp knocks on her door before she could lose her nerves. She let out a sigh of relief when the door opened, only to realise there was no one there.

"Who are you?" she heard a tiny but squeaky voice emanating from below. She looked down only to see a young girl with the same jet-black hair as Percy's, but instead, they were draping down her shoulder. The girl gave her a toothy grin, and Annabeth swore she could see the same mischievous glint in her eyes, the same that Percy always had when he was going to pull a prank on her or do something foolish.

"Persephone! Who is it?" Annabeth heard Sally Jackson shout, seemingly from somewhere in the kitchen.

"There is a pretty woman with blonde curls at the door, mom!" the child, whose name Annabeth now knew to be Persephone.

Not soon after, she saw Sally Jackson appear in the hallways. "Oh hey, Annabeth! I recognised you from the descriptions Persephone gave." Sally chuckled.

Annabeth could not help but smile back at Persephone and her infectious grin. "Hey, Sally!"

"Come inside!" Sally gestured for her to enter, with Persephone running into the house.

Annabeth entered, taking in the cosy surroundings of Sally's house. After all, she had sneaked into Percy's room through a much-too-familiar route, straight into Percy's room. She would recall the times when Percy would have to sneak kisses quietly to prevent them from being spotted by either Sally Jackson or Paul Blofis, Percy's stepfather.

The surroundings brought another flashback to Annabeth:

* * *

"So, what do you think of Paul?" Annabeth asked, smiling up to Annabeth as she squirmed in Percy's embrace, her ADHD kicking in and preventing her from keeping still.

"Well, he's definitely better than Gabe." Percy chuckled, though she could still feel the underlying hate in Percy's tone. Gabe Ugliano had been the worst human in mankind – all he did was sit around drinking beer, and inviting his equally disgusting friends over for a game of poker (although the game always extended to 10 games or more). "I think Paul loves my mom, and he definitely treats her better than Gabe does."

Annabeth knew something was up, judging from the tone that Percy had. "You're hiding something. What is it?"

Percy sighed, before nuzzling his nose into her neck. "I can never hide anything from you, can I?" he said playfully, not before slipping back into a serious tone. "Paul wants to have a child with Sally."

"That's great! Why do you sound so worried?"

"It's just…I don't really know how to explain my thoughts, they're all jumbled up." Percy sighed exasperated, pinching his nose.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" Annabeth smirked.

"Pssh, me, jealous of a baby that isn't even born yet? I'm not that seaweed-brain-ish." Percy put her off quickly, though he did frown slightly at her comment.

"Percy, it's okay to be jealous. Every child goes through that stage when a new sibling is coming into his or her life. Zeus, even I was jealous when Matthew and Bobby were just born."

Now Percy was curious. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Annabeth chuckled. "Once, I hid them in the closet and tried to convince my step-mom and Dad that they were just a figment of their imagination! My step-mom went ballistic, and immediately demanded where I had hidden them. Of course, they found out when Bobby started crying. Matthew was too busy chewing on Dad's leather shoes to care."

"Hmm, maybe I am a bit jealous after all. I mean, won't Mom have to take care of the new baby too when he or she enters our lives?" Percy asked, an undercurrent of concern in his voice.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Sally will still find time to make blue chocolate chip cookies for you!" Annabeth giggled, before sighing and snuggled back into the embrace of Percy.

"Perhaps," Percy laughed, a hint of a smile on his face. Soon, however, Percy's face became one of disgust. "Ew, I just realised. If Mom and Paul want to have a baby, they need to...Argh, I can't handle it. I think I'm gonna throw up."

Annabeth laughed, but swiftly turned the both of them over, with her on top, her blond curls draping over both of their faces, forming a curtain of privacy. "But isn't that what we always do?" Annabeth blinked innocently.

Percy blushed from the physical intimacy with Annabeth. "I mean, yeah, but that's different, you know? They're just so...old."

Annabeth laughed, and Percy could only stare in amazement at the prettiest girl alive, in his perspective anyway. "Did you just call your mom old? Should I tell her right now?"

Percy gasped. "Wait, don't!" Percy tried to grab Annabeth, but she had already danced out of his reach. "She's gonna kill me for bringing you up without my permission! Wait-"

"Sally! I believe your son just called you old!" Annabeth gloated with glee.

* * *

Annabeth broke out of her reverie, interrupted by Sally. "Chocolate chips for you?"

"Thanks, Sally." Annabeth grabbed one and ate it, blushing when her stomach rumbled from the poor intake of food for the past few days.

"Alright, Annabeth, what brings you here?"

Annabeth's bottom lip quivered slightly, and it didn't go unnoticed to Sally's trained eye (She was a mother of 2, after all). "Sally, I'm afraid I Percy is missing once again."

Sally's eyes darkened considerably. "That boy just can't keep getting out of trouble! Do you know where he is?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. In fact, I shouldn't even be on this quest. I'm probably marked as a traitor for leaving Camp Half-Blood right now." Annabeth sighed, before recounting her horrible deeds when she was leaving Camp Half-Blood.

Sally pulled Annabeth into a hug before she could break down into tears. "It's alright, Annabeth. You seem to have backed yourself into a corner, but I'm sure you'll come out of it in no time!"

"But I have no idea what to do, I don't even know how to help him!" Annabeth burst into tears.

"Listen, Annabeth. I know you're a daughter of Annabeth, but sometimes you have to let your heart take over your mind. You may not know how to save Percy, but deep down in your heart, you'll find out where to go."

Annabeth thought of what Sally said. She remembered, back when she was with Piper, she had felt helpless, unable to decide on anything to do. Her mind had been a total jumbled mess, leaving her confused. Piper had told her to feel instead of think, going against Annabeth's entire life motto, but Piper had successfully led their way to escape, defeating Mimas using emotions instead of rationality.

"I think I understand. Thanks, Sally." Annabeth sniffled.

Persephone came back with a box of tissues in hand, handing them to Annabeth, "Here you go, Princess!"

Annabeth looked down at Persephone. "Princess?"

Nodding vigorously, Persephone continued, "Yes, Princess! You have pretty princess curls! Too bad my hair is black." she pouted, earning laughter from both Annabeth and Sally. Persephone tilted her head curiously, "Mom, who is this pretty lady?"

Sally smiled at Persephone. "Persephone, this is Annabeth, Percy's soon-to-be wife."

Annabeth stared at Sally, shocked. "H-how did you know?"

"Mother's instinct," Sally said with a twinkle in her eye, before laughing once more. "Just pulling your leg. Percy asked me for my permission to marry you. Like he even needed my permission."

Annabeth smiled forlornly. "Thanks, Sally. I'll do anything in my power to save Percy."

Persephone suddenly brightened up. "Wait, does that mean that Annabeth will be my sister?"

Annabeth put a hand on Persephone's head and rubbed lovingly. "Yes, I'll be your sister soon."

More laughter emanated from the living room when Persephone jumped for joy.

* * *

"Thank you, Sally, for having me over. I believe I know what to do right now."

"No problem, dear. Percy's really lucky to have you. Keep yourself safe as well."

The Jackson family waved as Annabeth departed with a new purpose in mind. Although she didn't know where exactly to find Percy, she knew exactly what she had to do - she had to ask for help. _I'm pretty sure this is related to the coming war, I can't do this alone._

Annabeth considered her options: Camp Half-Blood was definitely off-limits; Annabeth could go to the Underworld and ask for help from Hades and his undead army, but seeing as how Zeus had prohibited any form of contact between gods and demigods, Hades would most likely refuse any help, though there was a chance Hades might agree. Though, Annabeth definitely did not want to be surrounded by zombies when they were going to save Percy.

That left Annabeth with only one option - Camp Jupiter.

* * *

 **A/N**

From now on, I'll keep all Author's Notes at the back of the chapter, to keep it neat and simple. :D

Also, I will most likely be sticking to longer chapters and slightly less frequent updates.

Don't worry, I'll try not to run off for around 3 whole years as I did in 2014 :P

Also, I will most likely be continuing Servant of Gaia, my other incomplete fanfiction, in due time, after I've completed Book 1 of this series.

And yes, I plan to make this a series. :D


	5. Chapter 5: The Great Prophecy

**Chapter 5**

During tonight's campfire, hardly anyone was really in the mood to celebrate, especially the senior campers. While Annabeth was not as widely-known as Percy, the disappearance of Percy still had a drastic impact on everyone's mood. Percy was known to be the saviour of Olympus twice, and the junior campers had to thank him for gaining the demigod children of the minor Gods the recognition that they deserved. However, since Percy was so idolised in Camp Half-Blood, the junior campers, especially the female ones (and even some male ones from Aphrodite, too), were extremely jealous of Annabeth. They thought that Annabeth was some witch that stole Percy's feelings and replaced it with feelings for her. Though Annabeth knew that it was not true, she couldn't hide the pangs of guilt that shot through her. _Maybe Percy doesn't really love me after all. Maybe he just pities me for not having any family._ Percy, however, was having none of that, constantly showering Annabeth with love, reminding her time and time again that Percy loved Annabeth for who she was, not out of pity or guilt.

The fire was exceptionally low, turning a deep shade of purple, extremely close to black. Chiron, seeing this, signalled to Will. Nodding, the Apollo campers tried to lift the campers' spirits, singing songs such as 'This Land is Minos's Land' and 'I Am My Own Great-Great-Great-Great Grandpa'. Regardless, only the junior campers really participated in the sing-alongs, while the senior campers silently brooded over Chiron's announcement. They were still unable to understand what Chiron had announced - Annabeth gone rogue. The seniors all knew that Chiron was like a father to Annabeth, mentoring her ever since she joined Camp Half-Blood when she was seven.

Now, however, Chiron was announcing that she had gone rogue. They didn't think that Chiron actually had such a heart to declare that her "daughter" was going rogue.

Little did they know that Chiron was hurting deep inside as well.

Travis and Katie were in each other's embrace, trying to fight off the horrible image of Juniper, her green skin pale and lips purple. Fortunately, Juniper was well enough to be released from the infirmary, her left arm unfortunately still in a sling. Grover was still constantly fussing over Juniper, unwilling to leave her alone for even a split second. Under normal circumstances, Clarisse would tease Grover about how over-protective he was of Juniper, but even she was affected by Percy's disappearance, with Chris constantly whispered in her ears.

"Do you think Annabeth will be alright?" Katie murmured in Travis' ears.

Glancing from a joke that Conner had half-heartedly said, he replied, "I don't know. Annabeth is steel-hearted, but with Percy's disappearance affecting all of us, I think she took the worst hit. I still can't believe Camp Half-Blood has declared her our enemy."

"I know," Katie sighed. "Do you think she's mentally sound? Judging from Juniper's recount, I can't imagine a sane Annabeth doing what she said."

"I feel like we should help her, instead of ditching her and lumping her in with the bad guys."

"I still don't understand why Chiron wouldn't want to give Annabeth a quest!"

As if on cue, Rachel's eyes suddenly glowed bright green, her hair flowing around her, defying laws of gravity. Green wisps of smoke rose from her mouth, and she rasped:

The fate of the gods rest in a hand;  
the son of the sea will lose his brand.  
To save the hero,  
3 half-bloods will depart.  
The Arctic Circle;  
The Bermuda Triangle;  
The Hot Seat;  
The Easter Island.  
Will the mind be strong enough to go against love;  
And will the love be strong enough to go against the mind?

The fate of the world is in their hands.  
4 more shall join from the other end.  
The seventh wheel will grow but die,  
but not to fear, he will revive.  
A titan's daughter will accompany him,  
but is now busy showering beams.  
These 8 heroes -  
who will they fight?  
Against the night  
or giving us light?

Once again, the gods stand tall,  
but then again, Olympus may fall.  
With the creator of all now with them,  
once again we are condemned.  
All demigods must once again unite,  
hunters of Artemis with all their might.  
The Gods must grant mortals knowledge,  
for the Cloven Elders to be acknowledged.  
Will the rift between them cause the destruction of both worlds,  
Or will there finally be peace and harmony for all?

When Rachel finally collapsed, Chiron was already there stood prepared. Catching her, he ordered the rest of the demigods to retreat to their Cabins for the night, not before signalling for all cabin counselors to have a meeting first thing in the morning.

Travis and Katie looked at each other with worry. "Well, there goes our early morning date." Travis chuckled humourlessly. He pecked her quickly on her lips before splitting ways.

Travis could barely stay awake that night, reminiscing about the good times he shared with Katie, while Connor snorted in his sleep in the other corner of the room.

When Chiron finally gathered the cabin counselors the next morning (Clovis was proving to have a hard time staying attentive), they set about to decipher the meaning of prophecy. The chatter, it seemed, had not died down from yesterday's campfire.

"A new prophecy! I'm going to lead the quest!" Laurel cheered.

"No, I'm going to lead the quest!" Holly rebutted, as the twin daughters of Nike began arguing.

"Anyways, I think this prophecy has to do with Annabeth going rogue," Malcolm stated.

The mood of the Big House darkened considerably - even the Nike daughters stopped arguing long enough to think of what Malcolm had pointed out.

"The fate of the gods rest in a hand. That signals the doom of the Gods, as usual." Sherman seemed deeply bored by this meeting.

"The son of the sea will lose his brand. What brand does Percy have?" Katie asked.

"Hmm, maybe it's his SPQR brand he got from Camp Jupiter? Then again, it could be Tyson, he's the son of the sea as well, or maybe there's a new son of Poseidon?" Malcolm filled in.

"3 half-bloods - that's the usual number of people going on a quest." Valentina chirped in, examining her nails.

"There seems to be a list of pretty well-known locations," Malcolm added, though the other cabin counselors just stared at him blankly. "What? Have you guys never heard of these locations before?"

"The last 2 lines seem greatly suspicious to Athena's and Aphrodite's cabin. I do think it's referring to Annabeth, and how she has to conquer her love for Percy?" Butch muttered, deep in thought.

"Well, I suppose so. Assuming Annabeth is one of the 3 half-bloods, who are the other two?" Connor voiced.

"Uhh, I had a dream last night," Katie shakingly raised her hand. "It was more of a vision, but I saw Travis and Annabeth fighting against Percy."

"So that settles it! Travis, Annabeth and Percy are the 3 half-bloods on the quest!" Chiron nodded his head in approval.

This, however, earned a protest from Travis. (He secretly wanted Katie to go with him, knowing how long it has been since Katie has been on a quest.) "There has to be a reason why Katie is the one receiving this vision, not me. I think Percy is the one who has to be rescued, leaving me, Katie and Annabeth as the 3 half-bloods on this quest."

"That seems true, but something still eats at my mind. Why is Percy fighting against Travis and more importantly, Annabeth?" Malcolm asked, his eyebrows laced with worry.

"Unfortunately, I don't think we can settle that one quite yet. I have a feeling this is similar to the Great Prophecy 2 years ago - there are 3 parts to this prophecy. So, Katie, since you received the vision, you will be the one leading the quest, alright?" Chiron officially ended the councillor meeting. "Will you and Travis be able to pack and leave by noon?"

Katie and Travis both nodded. Deep in their hearts though, they were both excited to finally be able to embark on a quest, and together no less!

"And one last thing," Chiron added, "Looks like I was wrong after all. Annabeth did not go rogue; she merely left earlier than the other 2 quest members."

The senior campers smiled at that statement.

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By noon, Argus was ready to drive them to Long Island, Travis and Katie carrying backpacks. They had both agreed to pack light, seeing as they had numerous locations across the world to find them.

"Good luck," was all Chiron said before Argus began his long drive to Long Island, the entire camp seeing them off.

"I think our first step will be to locate and recruit Annabeth, seeing as she is the 3rd member of our quest." Katie frowned, looking at the map. Her tone was laced with concern - seeing as this was Katie's first quest, she had no idea what she was supposed to do. Given the severity of the quest that came with a super-duper-long prophecy, Katie had assumed that she played a crucial role in the survival of Olympus. And she definitely did not want to screw this up.

"Hey Katie, don't worry. I'm sure you'll do fine." Travis put a hand on hers, comforting her. Katie looked up at him in surprise, before smiling and nodding at him, with renewed vigour.

"After all, you have me in the quest too!" Travis continued smugly.

Even Argus sweat-dropped at that comment.

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 **A/N**

Thanks for reading! Also edited the fanfiction summary to fit the story better. ^.^

If you guys have any ideas for the story that you want to be included in this fanfic, leave a review, and I may include it if it fits my current story! (I'll credit you, don't worry :D)

Btw, sry, the chapter wasn't as long as planned.


	6. Chapter 6: The Beginning of the Quest

**Chapter 6**

Argus waved them goodbye as Katie and Travis stepped out of their taxi. "So, this is Long Island." Travis murmured.

"You haven't been here before?" Katie looked surprised.

Travis smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Nope, I live in New York, and Connor always hated exploring cities."

"Good thing you have me then." Katie deadpanned. "Come, I'll give you a tour." Grabbing Travis' hand, she pulled him into a restaurant. Travis' eyes were focused on their intertwined hands - he was still worried that any small mistake that he makes will immediately end their precarious and newly-formed relationship. Trying to get his heartbeat under control - for some reason, his palm starts getting _very_ sweaty when Katie is around - he followed Katie into a restaurant to grab a small bite, looking slightly miffed when they had to let go of each other's hands.

"How are you going to find Annabeth?"

Katie sat there, brooding, as they waited for their food to arrive. "Honestly, I have no idea. I don't know what to do!" She began biting her nails as she gazed down at the map that Chiron had given them.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll figure it out." Travis places a reassuring hand on Katie's, smiling at her.

"I suppose so..." Katie blushed at the contact. They were still new to the relationship, and unlike Piper (who had no shame whatsoever in revealing to everyone that Jason was 'hers'), they blushed at any intimate contact.

Before they could say anything more, their food had arrived, served on a silver platter, literally.

"Enjoy your meal." The weird glint in the waiter's eye did not go unnoticed by both Travis and Katie. Travis, however, chose to ignore it, seeing as he could barely control the growling of his stomach any longer.

Nearly ripping off the cover of the platter, he literally inhaled the food, earning eye rolls from Katie across him.

"Wait, there's a slip of paper underneath your plate." Katie looked up from her food, pinching the paper and slipping it out from underneath his plate, while Travis merely shrugged with his mouth full.

"Meet me outside the restaurant in the back alley. From, Aphrodite."

"Zeus, does it really have to be Aphrodite? I've heard from Annabeth that she's really nosy in love affairs."

"Well, she's definitely not interfering with our relationship." Travis smiled, before pointing at Katie's food and asking, "You gonna finish that?"

Katie rolled her eyes again. "Boys..." she muttered, earning a smirk from Travis.

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"Ah, if it isn't Katie and Travis! My, what a surprise to see you two here!" Aphrodite drawled.

Travis tightened his grip around Katie's hand, feeling his 'dangeradar' ringing bells in his head. "Aphrodite..." he muttered.

"You don't seem delighted to see me!" Aphrodite pouted. She batted her eyes at Travis.

Unknown to Travis, she was using Charmspeak on him. Travis found himself drowning in Aphrodite's eyes as he slowly stepped forward...and forward...and forward...

Katie suddenly yanked Travis back, snapping him out of his trance. "If you're going to just stand there and waste our time, we're leaving." Katie snarled, while Travis tried to blink the Charmspeak out of his now-mushy brain.

"Ah...jealousy. Such a twisting emotion." Aphrodite chuckled darkly, noting that it was Katie's turn to tighten her hand around Travis'. "As much as I would like to toy around with your feelings, I'm here for a different reason. Annabeth and Percy are in trouble, and I'm here to guide you guys."

"Annabeth is heading straight to Camp Jupiter right now. But you need to stop her. Camp Jupiter has their own issues to deal with as of now."

"How are we to intercept her? And where do we go afterwards?" Katie asked.

"You should be able to intercept her at the playground just across here. As for where you guys have to go, follow the locations in the prophecy." Aphrodite giggled, before disappearing in a puff of pink smoke.

"Uhhhh...what exactly happened?" Travis asked. His brain was still mushy from the potent Charmspeak that Aphrodite had used.

Aphrodite had hit spot-on: Katie was indeed jealous. Even though she knew that Aphrodite's Charmspeak was so potent, it was almost irresistible to all males (and sometimes females), she was jealous that Travis had been so easily swayed. Wrenching her hand free from Travis' grasp, she marched straight to the playground across the street, ignoring the pleading looks that Travis gave her.

"Wait, what?" Travis caught up with her, confused.

Ignoring Travis, she sat on one of the swings and deliberately looked in any direction except at Travis, claiming that she was merely keeping a look-out for Annabeth.

"Katie?" Travis whined, "What did I do wrong that made you angry? Was it Aphrodite?"

Sighing, Katie turned to Travis. She hated herself for unable to withstand Travis' 'puppy eyes'. "Never mind, it's nothing. You didn't do anything wrong."

Travis was unconvinced and desperate to fix their relationship - he definitely did not want to have to deal with an ex-girlfriend, seeing the numerous failed relationships in Camp. However, he had no idea what he did wrong, in the first place, so he was at a loss.

While they waited for Annabeth to pass by (as Aphrodite had claimed she would), Travis wrecked his brain for a way to mend the strain in their relationship. The tension was so thick one could almost cut it with a knife. Fortunately for them, the playground was deserted for the rest of the day, so they did not have to deal with any noisy children to add on to their worries.

 _I need to figure out what I did wrong, but how? I don't really recall what had happened after Aphrodite appeared. Did she use Charmspeak to seduce me or something?_ Travis thought.

Peeking at Katie, he caught himself staring at her. The wind was blowing gently, her hair caught in the breeze. The sunset was casting golden rays in its wake, accentuating Katie's beauty.

He quickly looked away before Katie could catch him staring, his cheeks blazing. He continued to think of ways he could 'romance' Katie into forgiveness, before...

"Hey, there's Annabeth!" Katie pointed, before running straight to her and calling her out. Travis sighed and ran to catch up with them.

Upon arrival, Travis noticed something wrong with Annabeth. Though on the outside she looked presentable, he noticed the dark circles under Annabeth's eyes, and her eyes were red with unshed tears.

Katie, if she noticed Annabeth's complexion, did not mention it. "Annabeth, we're here to help you save Percy. We got a prophecy just yesterday." Katie went on to give the entire prophecy.

Annabeth's eyes widened as the prophecy was revealed to her. "Percy and I are involved again... Why do the Gods always drag us into their mess?" she muttered bitterly.

Travis was slightly suspicious of Annabeth. He had heard the exact same tone and the exact same emotions that Annabeth was portraying right now from someone Campf Half-Blood was all too familiar with - Luke Castellan.

"Anyway, let's look for somewhere to stay overnight. It's getting late." Katie, sensing this, quickly shifted the topic before things could get out of hand.

They were able to find themselves 2 small combined rooms in a nearby hotel. Travis took one, while Annabeth and Katie took the other.

Travis spent almost the entire night sleepless, tossing and turning and trying to figure out ways to mend his and Katie's relationship. Though on the outside he appeared to be a prankster, annoying the crap out of everyone around him, deep down he was a real softie and was willing to do anything to please Katie.

In the other room, Katie and Annabeth were both trying to sleep on the double bed.

"Are you okay?" Katie asked, worried about Annabeth's outburst earlier.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Annabeth replied bitterly, "Percy's gone again, and we need to clear up the mess of the Gods. Nothing has changed, in fact. What's the point of Percy making the Olympians swearing on the Styx if they aren't going to keep their promises?"

"Well, the minor Gods have definitely received the attention that they deserved, and last I heard, Calypso was freed from her island by Leo. I guess the Gods do fulfil their oaths after all. But enough of that, how are you dealing with Percy?"

"I'm fine, really," Annabeth answered, though she looked as if she was trying to convince herself rather than Katie. "Percy will be fine; he always will be. Besides, there's nothing much I can do with Percy other than rescue him."

"Don't worry. Travis and I will be here to help you." Katie said reassuringly, patting Annabeth on the back.

Annabeth's eyes brightened visibly. "Speaking of which, how's it going with you with Travis?" she smirked.

Against Annabeth's expectation, it was Katie's turn to sigh. "Not good. Stupid Aphrodite had to interfere with our relationship and now it's strained." Katie proceeded to explain everything to Annabeth, who listened attentively, providing a listening ear for Katie.

"Katie, I don't think you should be that hung up over what happened with Travis. I mean, Aphrodite is a goddess with amazing Charmspeak abilities. Just because Travis can withstand the Aphrodite Campers' Charmspeak, doesn't mean he can withstand Charmspeak from Aphrodite herself! Zeus, I don't think even Percy can withstand Aphrodite's Charmspeak if Aphrodite really puts in the effort."

"I suppose so. But enough of the girl talk, we need to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Katie waved Annabeth away.

Annabeth, however, was not backing down from this fight. She knew what would happen if things were not mended quickly, and she did not want Katie to have to go through the symptoms of a break-up. She decided that she would settle things with Travis tomorrow. She also felt a new determination rising in her heart - just because Chiron had deemed her an enemy of Camp Half-Blood, does not necessarily mean that she would back down from this fight. In fact, Annabeth felt that she, more than ever, now needed to prove herself to Camp Half-Blood and save Percy, for the sake of the Camp, and for the sake of herself.

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 **A/N**

Sorry this chapter came out a bit late :/

R&R ^.^


	7. Chapter 7: The WSP

**Chapter 7**

After they ate their breakfast and left the hotel, they headed straight towards the Long Island MacArthur Airport, the closest airport to them.

"Percy always had a fear of flying too high, for he would be blasted down by Zeus." Annabeth reminisced.

Travis and Katie looked at each other, but refused to comment on Annabeth's statement, instead allowing her to continue.

"I still remember it was just yesterday that Percy, Tyson and I were going on to the quest to the Sea of Monsters, to fight Scylla and Charybdis. Back then, it had looked like a horrible idea, a daughter of Annabeth and two sons of Poseidon." Annabeth laughed. However, her smile faded off eventually, her eyebrows squinting in worry.

"Don't worry, that's why I'm here for, to save Percy!" Travis boasted proudly, pumping his fist against his chest.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Katie chuckling silently. However, when he turned around to face her, she immediately stopped, her face becoming one of a 'poker face'.

Travis cursed himself for letting his behaviour getting the better of himself, immediately darkening down from his usual cheery self. Annabeth, noticing this, made a reminder to have a talk to Travis to fix his relationship with Katie.

They all decided to take a cab to the airport, instead of walking a few miles. (Additionally, Annabeth's legs were dead tired from her long hike from Half-Blood Hill, so she didn't protest.)

As if on cue, a taxi pulled up right beside them and wound down its side window, revealing a middle-aged man with shades. "Hey, do you guys need a ride?" Though suspicious at first, the demigods could not sense any malicious intent from the man, so they eventually took the risk, seeing as it was nearly impossible to find a taxi out on Long Island. (It was definitely not known for its taxi response time.)

Along the 2-hour ride, Katie dozed off in a matter of seconds. She had been tossing and turning in bed the previous night, unable to sleep due to the emotional detachment she felt from Travis.

Capitalising on this, Annabeth began her 'lecture' on Travis. "So...what exactly happened between you and Katie?" Annabeth squinted her eyes at Travis.

"Uhh...what?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "The incident with Aphrodite. What happened between you and Katie?"

Travis wrung his hands nervously. "Did Katie tell you what I did wrong?"

"Do you think you did something wrong?"

Travis pursed his lips, "I have no idea why, but Katie wouldn't talk to me. Right before we met Aphrodite, we were still all right."

Annabeth sighed. This was going to take longer than she expected. "I wouldn't say it's your fault, but Katie thinks it is. Aphrodite used Charmspeak on you, and you responded in a way that made her jealous."

"Jealous?" Travis asked wide-eyed, "Of what?"

"That doesn't matter, Travis. You need to sort out this mess before your relationship really goes down the drain." Annabeth pointed an accusing finger at him.

Travis shuddered at the thought. He had seen all the drama in Camp Half-Blood, and he definitely did not want to be part of the rumours flying across the Cabins (especially in the Aphrodite Cabin). "How can I solve anything? At this rate, our relationship is doomed." Travis exclaimed, putting his head in his hands.

"Now, I ain't one to interfere in people's relationships, but you guys are probably important, otherwise I won't be here." The taxi driver suddenly added. "I'm Fred, by the way," he supplemented when both Travis and Annabeth stared at him open-mouthed.

"Fred...Apollo?" Annabeth's eyes went wide with realisation, remembering that Percy had once told him about the undercover god.

"Shh, I'm undercover. Call me Fred," Apollo - sorry, Fred - winked at them. "Honestly, I have better things to do like drive the chariot - You can never trust auto-pilot, you know? - but Zeus ordered me to help you guys out so...Here I am! And as much as I would like to hear you guys out, I would like to drive you guys in peace. So allow me to offer you one piece of advice: Just follow your gut feelings, and dive straight for any opportunities you receive, but at the same time don't be _too_ over-aggressive." Apollo's tone darkened slightly, remembering his first love, Daphne.

"Thank you, Apollo. Sorry, I mean Fred."

Apollo returned back to his usual annoying self. "No problem, demigod. Allow me to give you a haiku for your welcome gift-"

"As much as we would _love_ to listen to your haiku, I'm afraid Travis and I are _so_ tired and could really use a power nap. If you could wake us up when we reach the airport, it would be greatly appreciated." Annabeth interrupted. Before Apollo could even utter a syllable in a response, Annabeth turned her side to Apollo, facing the window, and promptly "fell asleep".

Travis could faintly hear Apollo mutter "ungrateful". However, his mind was racing on other things - how exactly could he make up to Katie to preserve their relationship? He did not want to face the wrath of Katie - she was _REALLY_ scary when she was mad - and he was also pretty sure he loved Katie.

It was still a fairly new and scary thought to Travis. They had been dating for less than 2 months, secretly no less, and their relationship was still in a precarious position, especially now that they were on a quest. If Travis were to suddenly throw 'love' into the mix, he was pretty sure that their relationship would be doomed forever.

But he couldn't deny the feelings that he had towards Katie. He had been drawn to the daughter of Demeter ever since they first met in Camp when they were 10. Unknown to her, Connor and Travis had pranked Katie the most not because she was the most 'prank-able' - maybe it played a _tiny_ part in that, but that was not the point - but because Travis had insisted that Katie should be the main target of the Stoll pranks. Travis still remembered the conversation he had with Connor - it had been one of the most one-sided conversations with his twin brother ever.

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"We should prank Katie more," Travis suddenly blurted out, disrupting the silence in the bunk bed that he and Connor shared.

"What? Where is this even coming from? Just go and sleep," Connor whined.

"Katie's so 'prank-able', and her reactions are quite funny to watch, don't you think?" Travis continued.

"Really? I never did notice a difference between her reaction and the reactions of others that we prank. Ohhh, I get it. You like watching _only_ Katie, don't you?"

Travis blushed heavily, thankful for the fact that Connor could not see him right now. "No! That's not what I meant! I'm just saying that pranking Katie will give us greater satisfaction because of what she does afterwards, don't you think?" Travis tried to convince Connor while rejecting any weird vibes that Connor was sending his way.

"Sure, Travis, sure. I'm literally your twin brother - you can't hide anything from me." Travis could almost picture the smirk on Connor's face right now.

"Oh shut up, I'm older than you, so you have to follow _my_ rules."

"And we all know how well I follow rules."

But Connor followed Travis' wishes nonetheless, not wishing to hinder any feelings that Travis had towards Katie. And it had definitely paid off for Travis - he even went on to play pranks on Katie without Connor knowing - just so he could have Katie chase after him. Some might call Travis a sadist or a masochist, but by being in Camp Half-Blood with only that few number of activities to do, his choices were extremely limited. And as a son of Hermes, how else to gain someone else's attention than to play pranks on her?

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"We're here." Travis' train of thoughts was interrupted with Fred calling out loud.

Annabeth woke up pretty quickly (Travis was pretty sure Annabeth was faking sleep but had no idea how she was able to do that without suffering the effects of ADHD), so Travis turned towards his left to wake Katie up.

His outreached hand stopped halfway when he saw Katie. Her head was leant against the window, and she was curled up in the corner of the seat. Her lips were slightly parted from her soft but deep breathing and her shirt had slightly shifted when Katie fidgeted in her sleep, revealing a nice amount of shoulder skin.

Travis did not want to seem like a pervert or a stalker, but could not stop himself from staring at her, his lips going dry.

When Katie stirred in her sleep on her own, sensing that the taxi had stopped, Travis froze even further. She gave a cute yawn, stretching her arms above her like a cat before opening her eyes. Travis quickly averted his eyes and shifted away from Katie, not wanting to seem like a stalker for staring at her in her sleep. Thankfully, Katie was still half-asleep to notice, but it did not go unnoticed by Annabeth.

Annabeth merely smirked. The talk with Travis did not go as planned, but it was fruitful nonetheless. She had deciphered that Travis, at the very least, wanted the best out of his and Katie's relationship, and he definitely has feelings for her. She really hoped from the bottom of her heart that both Travis and Katie could get the best out of their relationship. Katie had been one of Annabeth's friends since the very beginning - they did not seem like it, but they were pretty close, and often confided in each other whenever they had issues, though they eventually drew slightly apart when they grew up, something Annabeth regretted. She could also feel that Katie had feelings for Travis, so it was a win-win.

Stepping out of the taxi, she felt the familiar breeze of the sea wind, as well as the salty after-taste that the breeze left in your mouth. Turning to Fred, she asked, "Why are we at the sea port? Shouldn't we be at the airport?"

Fred took off his shades and gave Annabeth a blinding smile. "Percy's missing - Don't you think Poseidon will help? Anyways, I'm kinda busy right now, so I'll be going. Not exactly sure why I was asked to send you instead of Hermes? Maybe I'm just better than him?" Apollo rambled. Without any warning, he suddenly yelled, "Look away!" before revealing his true form and shimmering away in rays of light, causing the demigods to blink away the flashes in their eyes.

Just then, a ship rose out from just in front of the port, scaring the quest members out of their wits. When Travis regained his composure, he looked at the ship. The initials "WSP" we're imprinted on the hull. Some ghosts were floating around on the ship. One of them stepped forward, speaking in a monotonous voice, "We serve Poseidon. He has asked us to aid the quest to find and rescue Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon."

Katie nodded, "I'm Katie, daughter of Demeter and the leader of this quest. This is Travis, son of Hermes, and this is Annabeth, daughter of Athena." She pointed to the respective quest members.

The ghost nodded, "Come aboard, we shall bring you to your first destination - the Arctic Circle."

The demigods looked at one another and gulped nervously. They had no idea whether the ghosts were friend or foe. However, seeing as how Apollo had easily left them with the ghosts, they assumed that it was indeed Poseidon that sent the ship.

 _Knowing Poseidon,_ Annabeth thought, _he's probably tearing his hair out for letting Percy out of his grasp again and is probably desperate to rescue Percy._

As the demigods gingerly stepped onto the ship, they took in the surroundings of the ship.

 _It's definitely not as good as Leo's ship, but good nonetheless,_ Annabeth thought. Katie and Travis, on the other hand, seemed terribly impressed with the machinery and efficiency of the ghosts, as they literally 'ghosted' about the ship.

The ghost introduced himself as the ghost captain, before leading the demigods up to their rooms. Before any of them could protest, Annabeth swiftly entered one of the rooms and closed the door behind her, locking it to show that she did not expect any of them to follow her in.

Travis and Katie nervously entered the other room, noting that there was only one king-sized bed in the room, to their dismay.

Meanwhile, Annabeth was busy snickering in the other room.

Travis, trying to be a gentleman, muttered, "I can sleep on the floor if you want. You can have the bed. I'm sure there's a mattress somewhere in this room. I can just ask the ghosts whether they have a mattress or not-"

Katie giggled quietly, and the tension in the room eased significantly. "Travis, you're rambling. It's fine, you can sleep on the bed if you want," she added on, her cheeks ablaze.

Travis nodded wordlessly, though his heart was palpating wildly.

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 **A/N**

That's it for Chapter 7 ^.^

Honestly, I wanted to add more but decided to leave it to the next chapter (this chapter is decently long for my standards :P)

Review if you'd like to :D


	8. Chapter 8: The Twin Brothers

**Chapter 8**

The demigods stepped into the control room of the ship. In the middle of the room, there was a shimmering map placed on a table. There was a small 3D image of our ship and a line, probably the route that we were taking. There were 4 locations marked on the map - most likely the respective locations that they had to take to.

Annabeth was still slightly confused. _What is it about these four locations that we have to travel to in order to save Percy?_

The ghost captain stood up. "We will lead you to these locations, but we have not been received any orders from anyone as to what you are to do there. Our estimated time of arrival is at dawn tomorrow, so we have the rest of the day to rest." With that, the ghosts all left the control room, though the controls of the ship resumed controlling themselves, much to the demigods' relief.

Katie plonked onto the chair. "What are we supposed to expect with the Arctic Circle? I'm guessing we'll need to cover ourselves with tonnes of clothes to prevent ourselves from freezing to death."

Annabeth sighed. "As if all the homeless nights in San Francisco isn't enough. I really hate the cold."

"Should we expect to run into some heavy resistance from monsters or even Titans?" Travis asked.

"We should probably be prepared for the worst as a precaution, even though it may be as simple as retrieving something from the Arctic Circle," Annabeth said, deep in thought.

"I'm still a little worried about the prophecy," Katie shuddered, "What does it mean by 'Will the mind be strong enough to go against love, or will love be strong enough to go against the mind.'?"

"It says 'mind'. It's probably to do with Annabeth, being the daughter of Athena and all." Travis added.

"But why will I have to go against love - in other words, Percy? Will I lose him?" Annabeth let out a stifled sob at the mere thought of it.

"I think we shouldn't worry about the prophecy. After all, as Chiron said, it's best not to dwell on the prophecy for a long period of time. And we can't always avoid the prophecy - the outcome of the prophecy will only get worse!" Travis quoted, trying to cheer up the mood in the room.

"I guess..." Annabeth still didn't seem convinced, but her shoulders sagged considerably, the tension slightly dissolved.

"Anyways, let's head back to our rooms to rest for the day. It's already evening anyways." Travis suggested, anxious to get back to the rooms, so he could apologise to Katie and mend their relationship once and for all.

Annabeth, catching on, agreed, sending a look to Travis, who deciphered it as, "You better take good care of Katie, _or else_."

Travis gulped. He had always been slightly afraid of the calculative glare of the daughter of Athena.

Trooping back to the cabins, Annabeth gave Katie a quick wink and entered her room, before Katie could fully comprehend what was happening.

Entering the room, Travis sat awkwardly on one side of the bed, Katie on the other side.

"Uh, look, Katie, I want to-" Travis started.

However, he was rudely interrupted by Katie, "I'm gonna go shower." Katie muttered, before entering the bathroom, locking it behind her.

Travis sighed, brushing his hand through his messy hair. Falling onto his bed, he thought, _How on earth should I apologise to Katie if she doesn't even want to listen to my apology? What should I even apologise about in the first place?_

Before he knew it, Travis' eyelids grew heavy, and eventually, he was swept into a deep slumber.

While Katie was in the shower, she was thinking hard about whether or not to accept Travis' apology. _He seems really sincere, especially for a son of Hermes._ Katie bit her lower lip unknowingly. She had missed Travis tremendously. He seemed to be in her thoughts all the time - even when she was sleeping.

When Katie slipped out of the shower, dressed and her hair wet, she was expecting a full-blown assault by Travis about how sorry he was, and how he was willing to do anything to beg for her forgiveness.

Little did she expect Travis to be curled up on the bed, snoring softly, his facial features devoid of any smirk that she was all too familiar with.

Gently sitting in one corner of the bed, Katie couldn't help but stare at Travis as she slept. She gently brushed her hand against Travis' complexion; his skin was far too smooth for a demigod, son of Hermes no less, but she was not complaining.

Not before long, Katie had joined Travis in sleeping, curling up in Travis' side. (She always loved cuddling with Travis, though she would never openly admit it to anyone, not even Travis.) The two lovebirds were sound asleep, dreaming about each other.

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Meanwhile in the other room...

Annabeth was thinking about Percy. When she saw Travis and Katie giving googly eyes to each other, she couldn't help but get jealous about how they had each other, and that Annabeth was the third wheel on this prophecy. And she absolutely hated it, though she didn't protest about joining in on the quest since it helped her save Percy from Gods-know-what.

 _Please, Gods, give me a sign, anything, to help me save Percy. I can't live without him._ Annabeth was close to getting down on her knees and begging. She quietly sobbed into the pillow, trying to will an imagined image of a tortured Percy out of his mind.

On the outside, she looked alright, still able to continue with the quest, while happily enjoying the company of Travis and Katie. However, on the inside, with every single passing day, she only got more worried about Percy.

She was _so_ angry at the gods. All she had wanted after the first Olympian War was to spend as much of time as she could with her boyfriend, after years of fighting against monsters and surviving against all odds. But _no,_ Hera _just_ to pick Percy up, wipe all of his memories clean, and send him over to a camp literally on the other side of the United States, not to mention involve both of them, _once again_ , to fight the wars of the Gods. It took her a little over 6 months to finally be reunited with Percy, before going off to face the Underworld together. Not really the most romantic walk in history.

Of course, after they defeated Dirt-Face, she had expected the Gods to give them at least a year of "free time" off to enjoy their time together. But _no_ , Percy just had to disappear again.

Sometimes, she cursed the Fates for Percy having such a terrible fate. After all, Percy was named after Perseus, who had one of the better fates among all the famous demigods, managing to die of old age, and not because of getting mauled by a Hellhound or eaten alive by a Drakon.

It was ironic, really, and Annabeth swore she could hear Chaos laughing away in the distance at the horrible fate of Percy. But perhaps it was just insanity eating away at her mind bit by bit as the days went by.

Annabeth eventually fell asleep collapsed on the bed, her tear-streaked face buried in her pillow.

That night, she dreamed. She dreamed, _finally_ , about Percy and his whereabouts.

But she was better off without the dream.

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"Percy!" Annabeth gasped. Looking around, she realised Percy and her were in a dungeon, Percy trapped behind bars. He was laying face down, and his shirt was so tattered that it was barely held together by thin strands of fabric.

Before Annabeth could run towards Percy, two bulky figures entered the room, one of them carrying a bucket of water. Annabeth recognised them as Phobos and Deimos, as Percy had mentioned in his fight against them with Clarisse. Annabeth was more afraid of Phobos - Deimos could bring terror to large crowds, whereas Phobos was more personal, bringing to light your deepest fears.

Annabeth was stood rooted to the ground. Percy had mentioned that in their presence, he would feel like his insides were wobbling, unable to control his emotions. It was the same with Annabeth, though she felt that Percy was down-toning it slightly - she felt that her insides were _melting_.

"So, what's on the menu for today?" Phobos growled, his voice sounding like stones rolling against one another.

"The usual, I guess," Deimos replied, sounding bored. His voice was slightly better, like he had a severe sore throat that had not cured for the past century.

Phobos grabbed the bucket of suspicious-looking water and emptied its contents onto Percy, causing him to sputter and get up quickly, looking around quickly.

Annabeth's heart clenched. There was an unfamiliar feral look in Percy's eyes, and Annabeth recognised that look only in Hellhounds. Percy's arms were as thin as toothpicks, his bones stark for everyone to see. And judging from that awkward position that Percy was standing in, it did not take a child of Apollo to know that one of his bones had been fractured, sprained or even broken.

"So, Perseus, how would you like your torture today? Would you like it quick, but with the pain meter set to the maximum, or would you like it long, but still equally painful?" Deimos grinned wickedly.

Percy 'hid' in the corner of the shelf, covering his head with his hands, muttering, "No...Gabe...stop..."

Phobos' eyes glowed golden, his eyes turning menacing - well, more menacing.

Percy clutched his head painfully. "NO! STOP! IT HURTS!" he screamed, falling onto his side and spasming uncontrollably.

Annabeth could feel despair rising in her as her loved one was tortured beyond belief - she could only imagine the pain that Percy was being put through.

Percy's voice suddenly diminished, becoming no more than a whimper, "Why are you doing this, Annabeth? Why won't you help me? I thought you loved me," he sobbed.

"NO! Stop it! Percy, I do love you, snap out of it!" Annabeth yelled, rushing toward the bars, only to be forced backwards by an unnatural force.

Deimos turned to her, "Ooh, looks like we have a visitor. Do you like our end-product, Annabeth? Olympus' most treasured demigod, withered down into nothing but a pathetic mess of a demigod," he spat. "All because of love. Such a pity, don't you think, daughter of Athena?"

Annabeth hissed, "What are you talking about?"

Phobos, eyes still glowing, replied, "One of his worst fears is being taken away from you. So, if you were a god of fear, what exactly would you do?"

Annabeth's eyes widened, "You bastard!"

"Well, you can blame Aphrodite." the twin brothers shrugged. "We're just doing what we're told to do, and enjoying our time here while doing it. After she's done with him, it'll be a joy to watch you, Annabeth," they grinned, before walking out of the room, Percy finally snapping out of Phobos' nightmare.

"Annabeth," Percy rasped. She turned, thinking Percy was referring to her, but Percy was looking elsewhere. "Why do you claim to hurt me, when all you've been doing for the past 2 weeks is hurt me, torture me?"

"No, Percy, it's all Phobos' doing! Don't believe the nightmares he's been giving you!"

Percy continued, unaware of Annabeth's disappearance. "I can't differentiate between Phobos' nightmares and reality anymore, do you really love me, Annabeth?" he sobbed.

The dream faded, leaving Annabeth helpless, the heart-clenching pain never fading away.

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 **A/N**

Sorry, this chapter took a little longer to write than expected. :P

Anyways, chapter 9 :D

R&R ^.^

P.S. Edited the first few chapters of any grammatical/spelling errors, no major changes in the contents of the earlier chapters.


	9. Chapter 9: Rescuing the Hero

**Chapter 9**

Katie awoke first to Annabeth's quiet sobbing. She quickly unfurled herself from Travis' side before he awoke, to prevent her embarrassment. After a few minutes to calm her racing heart down, she shook Travis to wake him up.

"Wha..." Travis opened his bleary eyes, only to see Katie looking down at him amusedly. "I'm up, I'm up..." Travis waved Katie away.

"We need to help Annabeth. She's crying for some reason." Kaite sucked on her lower lip in worry.

"I don't think I should enter Annabeth's room in the morning, seeing as I'm a male and all. You go," Travis rolled over, face-planting himself on the pillow.

Katie huffed but decided to leave Travis be, sensing some truth in his words.

Entering Annabeth's room, she found Annabeth rubbing her bleary eyes. _She was sobbing in her sleep_ , Katie thought sympathetically. "You all right, Annabeth?"

"Meet in the control room later with Travis. I need to tell you guys about the dream I had." Annabeth replied ominously.

Returning back to her room, Katie sat on her bed, deep in thought about the dream that Annabeth had. _We finally have a lead on how to save Percy!_ She was unaware of Travis creeping behind her, who suddenly grabbed her shoulders and threw her onto the bed behind her.

Katie let out a yelp and tried to protest, only to see Travis straddling her and holding her down by her arms. "TRAVIS! What are you doing?"

Travis looked down at her, "Look, I really want to apologise for what happened that day. I heard from Annabeth that you were jealous of me succumbing to Aphrodite's Charmspeak?"

Katie blushed, "N...No! What are you talking about? I never said such a thing."

"Would it make you happy if I said that I would only fall for your Charmspeak?" Travis smirked.

Katie's face turned redder. "S-Shut up! What in Gaia's name are you blabbering about?"

Leaning down, Travis drew Katie into an open-mouthed kiss, making Katie's mind go mush, as she poured all of her emotions into the kiss - the loneliness she felt for the past day, her jealousy of Aphrodite, and the fear that their relationship would be for nought.

When Travis pulled back, Katie could only stare at Travis, her mind still numb from the raw emotions that Travis had poured into that kiss. "So, am I forgiven?" Katie could feel the undercurrent of fear laced in his voice.

"Hmm, that depends on what you're willing to do," Katie decided to play along, wrapping her hands around Travis' neck. Katie smiled inwardly as Travis as Travis' eyes widened, definitely not expecting such a reaction from the usually reserved Katie. Chuckling, she whispered, "Just kidding. I've been waiting for you to apologise to me, you dimwit."

"So...are we alright now?" Travis murmured.

Katie did not think that the answer required words. Pulling Travis down, she drove herself into the kiss, ridding herself of any outside thoughts. For that moment, they weren't demigods going on a quest that would determine the survival of the world - they were 2 lovers enjoying a kiss, pouring all their love and emotions into it.

When they pulled back due to lack of air, Katie smiled up at Travis, who nuzzled his nose with hers. _I'm so glad we're finally together once more,_ Travis thought, before pulling back. "Come on, I overheard something about a meeting in the control room. Let's not give Annabeth any ideas, shall we?" He winked, leaving Katie but a sputtering blushing mess.

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Annabeth eyed the intertwined hands between Travis and Katie and smiled inwardly. _Looks like my plan worked after_ all,she inwardly smirked.

Travis slumped into his seat and looked at Annabeth curiously, "So, what's this about a dream that you had?"

"I think I know what happened to Percy," Annabeth stated worriedly, before recounting her dream to Katie and Travis.

Katie and Travis were biting their nails by the time the recount ended. "It seems that Phobos and Deimos have captured Percy, but how? I don't think they have the ability to capture Percy from Camp Half-Blood, especially since Camp Half-Blood is literally surrounded by water!" Travis exclaimed.

"I don't think that's the point that Annabeth's trying to bring," Katie countered. "If Phobos and Deimos are our enemies, wouldn't they take a more direct approach against the demigods? They are the sons of Ares after all, and Ares isn't really well-known for his smarts. There must be someone behind all these, someone worse than Ares. They said something about Aphrodite?"

"I just noticed something," Annabeth interrupted, "When Phobos and Deimos entered the room, their clothes were all dusted with snow, which could mean that they are at the Arctic Circle! We have a chance of saving Percy!"

Travis frowned, "Hold on. We all want to save Percy, but what are the chances of us beating two Gods, sons of Ares? Sure, Percy and Clarisse won them in a swordfight, but he's a son of the Big Three! We don't have much of a chance of rescuing him."

Katie nodded, "Travis is right. Our only chance is to go for a sneak attack and hope for the best. But them being Gods, they may be able to sense us and throw us off our cover."

"But we can't let this opportunity go to waste! We have to seize it, before Percy's gone as we know it!" Annabeth insisted.

Just then, the ghost captain entered the control room and announced, "The Arctic Circle. We're here."

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The three demigods climbed up onto the deck of the ship and were instantly met with a blast of cold wind. The ghost captain reassured them, "Lord Poseidon has cast enchantments on you - your body temperature will easily change with the temperature of your surroundings, so you won't be affected by the cold, though the wind will still be equally strong against you."

As the wind whipped across their faces, Annabeth's hands on the side of ship tightened. _I'm coming, Percy. Hold on for me._

Heading back under to ready for their fight, they decided to go armourless, seeing as they were on a stealth mission, not a combat mission. They came out with a simple but effective plan: Annabeth would wear her Yankees baseball cap and scout ahead for Travis and Katie, clearing a path for them while trying not to create any commotion. They would head towards the centre of the Arctic Circle, which was where Annabeth thought they would be, and formulate a plan from then on. _It's a pretty banged up plan, but it's a plan nonetheless,_ Annabeth thought grudgingly.

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The ghost captain anchored the ship and wished them good luck before the demigods started their slow and long trek across the huge island of ice. The icy wind was constantly billowing against the demigods, who had to shield their eyes, nose and mouth using handkerchiefs they brought.

Not long after, they passed an invisible boundary, coming face to face with an entire bunker of monsters. Fortunately, they were not spotted as they hid. The monsters were all stuck in a dungeon, which appeared to be on the ground floor, while the demigods were on the top floor.

"They seem to be...cheering?" Katie asked, confused.

"Doesn't matter. As long as we don't attract any attention from them, we're fine." Annabeth gestured for them to continue, as they stealthily crawled towards the stairwell, taking out two guarding _empousai_ in the meantime with a quick thrust of the knife. "There! There's a map of the entire building!"

Taking down the map from the bulletin map and inspecting it, they realised that the entire map was written in monster language - in other words, complete utter gibberish. Just as Annabeth was about to deem the map as useless and chuck it aside, Katie spotted the word 'Jackson' on the map. "Wait! It says here on the map that something to do with Jackson is there. It could be Percy!"

"Level 3. It says here that we're on level 5. 2 levels down and we should be able to retrieve Percy!" Annabeth anxiously commented. "Let's go!"

They quickly descended two levels, fortunately meeting no resistance along the way. "Isn't it weird we've not run into any monsters along the way?"

"Travis, don't jinx...it..." the demigods came to a halt after rounding the corner, meeting face to face with 2 burly beings.

"Well well well, what do we have here? 3 puny demigods, thinking that they can rescue their leader?" one of them, whom Annabeth recognised as Deimos, sneered.

"Looks like it. Should we deal with it?" the other, Phobos, snorted lazily, absent-mindedly reaching for the huge broadsword on his back.

"Nah, let the monsters handle 'em." Deimos laughed as he snapped his fingers.

A bunch of mechanisms along the wall whirred, causing the entire structure to wobble. The demigods fell to the ground, losing their balance.

When they regained their balance and stood up, the were now face to face with the entire horde of monsters they saw earlier. Looking up, they saw Phobos and Deimos being elevated on a platform. "Have fun down there!" Deimos waved, his eyes turning golden.

The monsters howled, seemingly feeding off the terror that the demigods felt.

"Annabeth, get to Percy! We'll fend them off for as long as we can!" Travis was the first to regain his composure. He brandished his trusty sword. It may not be as famous as Thalia's _Shield of Aegis_ or Percy's _Riptide_ , but it had the intended effect, the monsters hissing and backing away slightly at the sight of Celestial Bronze.

Annabeth, having snapped out of her reverie, nodded. She quickly dived away from all the monsters and into the room. "Percy!" Annabeth gasped when she entered the room she has seen in the dream.

Percy was huddled in one corner, his knees brought close to his chest and his face placed in his lap. Percy's grimy face looked up, and Annabeth was surprised at the blank look that she got.

 _Doesn't matter. We'll get him out first, then we'll talk,_ Annabeth thought. She tried using her sword to break the bars separating Percy and her but to no avail. _Come on, Annabeth, think! Do what you do best!_

A plan formulated in her mind. "Percy!" she yelled. Percy's head snapped towards her direction, his gaze slightly unnerving Annabeth. "I need you to summon water! It cancels out magic!"

Percy looked dumbfounded. Annabeth wondered if Percy had heard her until Percy nodded his head slowly and stretched out his hand.

Annabeth fell to the ground once more as Percy concentrated, his head beaded with perspiration, causing the entire structure to start shaking. Blood erupted from Percy's nose, but he ignored it, fully concentrated on summoning water out of the condensation in the air.

Just as Percy's eyes started rolling back, he let out a yell, before water erupted from the wall right behind you, through giant cracks in the wall, flooding the room at an alarming rate. Fortunately for Annabeth, the plan worked - the water swept away the bars, the enchantment around them dropping.

Outside, Annabeth could hear the howls of monsters as they got swept away by the flash flood that Percy had caused. She could only hope that Travis and Katie were alright, before catching Percy, lest he collapsed onto the floor. _Since when were you so light, Percy?_ she thought.

Piggybacking Percy, she waded through the mess of water carefully, which was now full of golden monster dust. She signalled to Travis and Katie to retreat back to the ship and escape with Percy. Travis and Katie, who were barely holding on to a ledge to prevent themselves from being swept away, nodded.

Soon, the water that Percy had created solidified into ice, allowing the demigods to tread carefully on thin ice (literally). Annabeth shuddered when she saw a hellhound snarling hideously, frozen in the ice underneath the sea.

When they reached back to the WSP, Annabeth tucked Percy into the infirmary, insisting that she stay there to help Percy when he woke up. Katie and Travis stumbled into their room to take a breather from the entire ordeal.

"We've done it!" Travis let out a breath of relief.

"My first quest and we've succeeded the first part of the prophecy!" Katie smiled at Travis, looking at him sideways. Travis smiled back and was about to indulge himself in a kiss before he heard a sharp yell coming from the infirmary.

The two demigods were in the infirmary before they knew it. "What happened?" Travis demanded.

Annabeth had her back against the wall, her hand covering her mouth, her eyes widened in terror, whilst Percy was propped up in a bed. "Annabeth, are you alright?" Katie asked.

"He...he..." Annabeth pointed a shaky figure at Percy, who tilted his head to the side, seemingly confused.

"Did I do something wrong?" Percy asked. Looking at Travis and Katie, the two demigods felt unnerved as Percy scanned them. When Percy asked the next question, the demigods were shell-shocked:

"Who are you guys?"

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 **A/N**

Yay, finished Chapter 9 :D

R&R, suggestions are welcome too!

I'm not too sure if prophecies are meant to be in chronological order. If it is, I'm kinda screwed :P


	10. Chapter 10: The Bermuda Triangle

**Chapter 10**

Travis stared at Percy in shock - he could only guess Katie's reaction was similar to his.

 _Oh no, not again!_ _Annabeth was already half-shattered when Percy disappeared, now he goes off to lose his memories?_ Travis half-expected Percy to pull a Leo and laugh, exclaiming that he was merely pulling their legs.

But he did not. He continued to stare blankly at them, while Annabeth slid down to her knees, trying to stifle the sobs coming out from her mouth. "You bastard!" Travis hissed, ready to punch the living daylights out of him for hurting Annabeth like that.

He was swiftly pulled back by Katie, who shook her head. "Don't. It's not his fault for losing his memories."

Annabeth started bawling, though she ran out of the infirmary before she could really begin. Percy looked in her direction and asked, "What's wrong with her?"

Shrugging Katie's hand off of his back collar, Travis grabbed a fistful of Percy's shirt, hauling Percy's face down (Percy was taller than Travis, much to his embarrassment). He whispered darkly in Percy's face, "Look, I don't know what happened to you when you were captured, but if you continue to hurt Annabeth, you're gonna wish you could go back in time and make sure your mother aborted you before you were born." Roughly letting go of Percy's shirt, Travis stomped out of the infirmary, Percy staring after him at what had just happened.

Looking at Katie, Percy asked sarcastically, "Are you going to strangle me too?"

Katie sighed, "As much as I would love to, you obviously have no recollection of who Annabeth is. Do you know who we are?"

"Yes, I know. You're Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter. Travis, the son of Hermes, is the guy who almost strangled me." Percy ran his fingers through his hair, breathing in a ragged breath. "Who's the girl anyways? Is she a new camper? And why did she go out crying?"

"It's not my place to reply, sorry. Why don't you just stay here and rest, while we discuss some important stuff downstairs?"

"Sure, I guess." Percy shrugged, "As much as I would love to be involved in your discussion, I need to rest from using too much power." Percy dove back onto the bed, and within seconds he was sound asleep, snoring away.

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"I managed to save Percy, but he has no memory of me whatsoever, while simultaneously retaining every single piece of information that he could do without. Just fantastic..." Annabeth chuckled bitterly.

"I'm sure Percy'll regain his memories again. It could be just like the time with Hera plucking him from Camp Half-Blood and chucking him into Camp Jupiter." Katie tried to console Annabeth, "Maybe he'll regain his memories pretty soon."

"We all know that's not true, Katie. You don't need to console me." Annabeth sighed, before getting up from her seat. "I just need some time alone," Annabeth muttered dejectedly, exiting the control room.

"I swear, that Kelp Head. I'm going to kill him once he gets back his memories fur hurting Annabeth like that."

"I'm pretty sure the twin sons of Ares do not have the power to remove someone's memories. Someone else must be behind all this. And the Prophecy: Will the mind be strong enough to go against love; and will the love be strong enough to go against the mind. I think this is the first line of this portion coming true. Annabeth needs to be strong enough to pull through this ordeal."

"I think the more important question is whether the quest is complete. Our objective is to save Percy, and technically we haven't saved him, right?"

"I suppose that could be our excuse to Chiron as to why we didn't return to Camp Half-Blood. We also need to find out more about this. Chiron mentioned about an incoming war."

Travis groaned, "Now I know what it feels like to be so important. It's like the weight of the world is on my shoulders - quite literally, in fact."

"Don't worry, we'll be here for each other." Katie smiled at him reassuringly.

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"Our next destination is The Bermuda Triangle, so our likely enemies will be Charybdis and Scylla. Annabeth, do you remember how you guys defeated it?" Katie turned to look at Annabeth.

However, she was interrupted by Percy, "Why are you asking her? I thought I was the one who went on the quest with Tyson?"

"Really? Then who was the 3rd person on your quest?" Annabeth asked spitefully.

"It was... Ummm... I can't remember," Percy stuck our his tongue in embarrassment. "That's strange, I don't normally forget stuff. Maybe I'm getting old."

"Or maybe another God took away your memories," Annabeth retorted, crossing her arms and looking away.

Percy continued, oblivious, "Hmm, that too. I still recall Hera taking all of my memories and dumping me in Camp Jupiter."

Travis and Katie looked at each other, not knowing how to stop the argument, feeling that they should not involve themselves in others' business. _Annabeth is becoming a freaking time bomb at this rate. It's only a matter of time before she explodes at Percy, and I'm pretty sure their relationship is gone forever._

Katie tried to diffuse the tension in the room. " _Anyways_ , back to the question. How did you guys defeat it?"

"We didn't exactly defeat it," Percy replied, "We just kind of barrelled straight into Charybdis, and we were fortunate enough to escape relatively unscathed, thanks to Tyson. Clarisse blasted several cannons into its mouth, and it spat everything right back out of its mouth. Quite disgusting, really."

"Honestly, I don't think that will work a second time. Fortunately, I have another plan." Annabeth had that familiar twinkle in her eyes. "Ghost Captain, how many jars of Greek fire do you have?"

The ghost scratched its imaginary beard, "I believe we have plenty of jars safely tucked away in the bunkers below, next to the boiler room."

"Good, ask all of your crew to tie a jar of Greek fire to themselves. When Scylla picks them into the sky, ask them to grab that jar of Greek fire and throw it into Scylla's mouth."

Percy frowned, "I suppose that will work, but what about the person that gets picked up?"

"You know what happens. They die. Their souls get returned to Tartarus, and they'll be judged by Hades and Thanatos."

Percy scowled, "I don't like where this plan is going. We can't just let them die!"

Annabeth sighed, knowing that this side of Percy would come up. "I'm sure none of us wants to be killed, but if it's for the better of the quest, we have to sacrifice ourselves. Otherwise, the entire fate of Olympus is at risk, and we can't screw that up."

Travis scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. "I love the plan and all, but isn't Scylla immortal and can't be killed?"

"According to the legends, yes. But no one has ever tried it yet, so it is possible. I mean, the Titans are also somewhat the same as Scylla, and their essence can be sent back to Tartarus, so why can't Scylla's essence be sent to Tartarus? Well even if she can't be killed, Greek fire can't be put out, so Scylla will just keep burning forever. She'll be pissed."

Katie giggled, "I'll definitely want a memory of that!"

Annabeth turned to the ghost captain. "Strap 1 jar of Greek fire each to each of your crew. Tell them that if they are wrapped by Scylla's tentacle, throw the Greek fire at Scylla." The ghost captain nodded.

Turning to the other three demigods, she announced confidently, "Let's go get some Greek fire."

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Plenty was an understatement. There were so many jars of Greek fire, that after strapping jars of Greek fire to the entire ghost crew, jars were strapped onto each cannon, with plentiful to spare. (Annabeth had mentioned something about Scylla taking out our defences first.)

"Well, now we're all ready to fight Scylla. Steer the ship as far away as Charybdis, and as close as possible to Scylla. The ghost captain could only nod, as he tried not to loosen the strap holding the jar of Greek fire to his arm.

Beside Travis, Percy stiffened slightly. "We've entered the Bermuda Triangle."

"How do you know?"

"Son of Poseidon over here! I have perfect bearings on the ocean. Wait, isn't the Arctic Circle and the Bermuda Triangle halfway across the world?" Percy turned to the ghost captain.

"The WSP is special, sir." The ghost captain puffed out his chest with pride, showing off his hideous ribcages. "It is able to time-warp when travelling long distances across the sea, making it extremely efficient."

"Sir!" One of the ghost crew came panting down the staircase, not without holding on to his jar of Greek fire. "Scylla. We're here."

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"Gods..." Travis muttered as he saw Scylla. She was definitely a hideous sight to see, not that you would survive to tell the tale. You probably won't even be able to see Scylla, being a mortal and all, but that was not the point.

"I don't think Charybdis was this ugly. I do recall Scylla sounding like the galaxy's biggest toilet being flushed though," Percy mumbled.

Out of the blue, the ship lurched dangerously to its side. Travis managed to cling onto something. Katie and Percy did too, but Annabeth fell towards the side and almost went overboard. The only thing that was preventing her from entering the sea was a rope that definitely did not look like it could support her weight. "Travis!" Katie screamed in horror.

The danger had just begun.

"Travis, hang on!" Katie yelled as she inched closer to Travis, not releasing the handle that she was clinging on to. "Grab my hand!"

He did, but the handle creaked dangerously. Thankfully, the ship righted itself in time, before the demigods fell into the sea. A ghost came running to Percy. "Sir! The hull's damaged and there is water lea-" All of a sudden, a tentacle suddenly grabbed him and lifted him up. He screamed as the tentacle pulled him towards its mouth, leaving only his leather boots.

"Throw the jar at Scylla!" Annabeth yelled while righting herself with the help of Percy. "It may help you!" she whipped out her sword and started dicing at the other tentacles slithering around, wanting to grab anyone within their reach.

There were fewer and fewer people on the ship's upper deck now if you even considered the ghost crew people. Things were not going as well as planned as more tentacles reached out from Scylla to envelop and squeeze the living hell out of us. Aroudnd the demigods, the sounds of battle raged on, as metal clashed against monster flesh.

A yell emanated from Annabeth. Percy swiftly turned towards the sound, using all his strength to slice the tentacle that was slithering around him into 2 pieces. He could only stare helplessly as Annabeth was grabbed by one of Scylla's tentacle by the ankle.

"It always has to be the ankle, doesn't it?" Percy cursed, a faint memory of something to do with Arachne entering his mind, but he pushed the thoughts away. _Now's not the time to think about the past, but rather to act in the present!_

Travis tried to jump into the air with his increased dexterity, only to miss Annabeth's outreached hand but a few millimetres, falling back down into the sea.

Percy felt the familiar tug in the sea as he willed the ocean around him to bend to his will. He stretched out his hand to grab Travis from breaking his neck from the fall into the sea, and the sea imitated his hand, delivering Travis to safety.

Percy flew to the sky, using the sea to project himself up, leaving a mini upside-down whirlpool with Percy on top.

Annabeth, on the other hand, was freaking out, all thoughts of her mind being thrown out of the window. She was dangling 10 feet in the air dangerously above the water, staring straight into Scylla's ugly beaded eyes.

Around her, ghosts were also being pulled towards Scylla. They started unbuckling their jars of Greek fire and threw it wildly at Scylla. Though the jars did break, the Greek fire rolled harmlessly off Scylla's body, not affecting it at all. All it did, however, was annoy Scylla even more.

Annabeth realised that their sole chance of destroying Scylla was to aim for her mouth. It was actually relatively easy, considering how big her mouth was, and Annabeth knew how good she was with archery, nearly on par with the Apollo demigods. Of course, she had never tried to throw one upside down while dangling from Scylla's tentacle, but that was a thought for another time.

Calculating the angle of trajectory that the jar was supposed to travel, Annabeth felt her left foot go numb from due to the tentacle tightly constricting against it. _Come one, I just need to counter-act against my current motion and acceleration towards her mouth, together with the gravitational field in the Bermuda Triangle..._

And she threw it.

Annabeth thanked every God possible, even the cow-goddess herself when the jar of Greek fire streaked through the air and landed right smack into Scylla's mouth.

Scylla let out a roar as the glass jar broke upon hitting one of Scylla's jagged teeth. The green flames frolicked down into Scylla's mouth as she howled in pain.

However, the tentacle refused to let go, and in fact continued to drag her into Scylla's mouth. It seemed to think, _If I'm going down, I'm going down with you!_ Annabeth started to panic when she could feel the heat emanate from the Greek fire, growing closer and closer to Scylla's mouth.

 _No!_ Percy's eyes widened as Annabeth inched closer and closer to Scylla's mouth, in danger of getting swallowed by an eternal monster or charred to death by Greek fire. His vision tunnelled, only focusing on Annabeth, as all other noise droned out. (Which was quite an impressive feat - did he ever mention about just how loud Charybdis was, busy gurgling away at being left out of the action?)

Percy let out a yell as he went berserk. He shot right at Charybdis and landed on the tentacle Annabeth was stuck on. With sudden superhuman strength, Percy yanked the tentacle off of Annabeth, who promptly fell into one of the the sea's waiting arms, delivering her back onto the ship safely.

Percy was so relieved, that he failed to notice another tentacle creeping towards him. Charybdis let out a howl of anguish as her tentacle sliced towards Percy at breakneck speed, leaving no time for even the Hero of Olympus to react.

Travis and Katie, who had finally successfully fought off the last of the tentacles on the ship, looked up at that exact moment to their leader of Camp Half-Blood. Annabeth yelled a warning at Percy as she was brought back to the ship by the 'wave-hand'.

But it was too late.

The three demigods could only stare in horror as Percy's right arm was sliced cleanly through skin, flesh and bone, leavning nothing in its wake.

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 **A/N**

Bet you didn't see that coming, huh? xD

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. You'll realise that I did take some of my old writing from the previous fanfic (some parts in there were still worth salvaging). Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!

Honestly, I wanted to include more, but I figured if I wrote any more it would be around 3000 words long, and I didn't realy want a chapter to have _that_ many words.

One last thing: 10 Chapter anniversary, anyone? WOOP!

R&Rs


	11. Chapter 11: Reformed Relationships

**Chapter 11**

"Just a random question - what would you do without your right hand?" Annabeth asked, looking up at Percy.

"Where is this question even coming from? Wait never mind, don't answer that question. I don't know what's going on your head." Percy stuck out his tongue at Annabeth, before thinking, deep in thought. "Well, for starters," Percy said seriously, "I wouldn't be able to hug you like I'm doing right now."

"I'm pretty sure you can hug with just 1 hand," Annabeth said dryly, before breaking into a smile. "And seriously, that's the first thing you think of when I ask you that question?"

"Yeah, that, and I wouldn't be able to fight with Riptide anymore, seeing as I'm right-handed. Though maybe I could learn to fight with my left hand?"

"There are indeed some famous swordsmen who only have one hand," Annabeth said.

"I still think I'll miss cuddling with you the most," Percy smirked, causing a blush to form on Annabeth's face.

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Annabeth gasped involuntarily as Percy free-fall through the air, the tentacle having loosened its grip on Percy. Percy had fainted due to shock, overuse of power as well as extreme blood loss, and blood was streaming from his butchered arm - or what remained of it.

It was a hideous sight.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally hit the water.

Annabeth dashed to the side of the ship. "Percy!" she yelled, desperately searching the sea for any signs of movement.

Another object dropped from the sky, into the ocean - Percy's arm, causing Annabeth's heart to drop even further.

Katie and Travis were both shell-shocked, not believing what they had just seen. Their leader, giving up his life to save Annabeth, even if he had no memories of her love.

Indeed, it seemed, his fatal flaw had been loyalty, saving the love of his life without even knowing it.

Travis and Katie finally understood his nickname of "Seaweed Brain".

Travis looked on in despair as Scylla gave one last howl, before dissolving into monster dust, its essence returning to Tartarus for possibly the first time in its lifetime. Travis could hear the giant whirlpool a few hundred metres away from them come to a halt, Charybdis closing its mouth so as not to suffer the same fate as Scylla.

Katie was the first to snap back into action. "Quick, get Percy before he disappears for good!" Grabbing a piece of rope, she quickly tied a noose on the rope. Annabeth, however, took the rope and without thinking, dove straight for Percy, right into the pool.

When she entered the water, Annabeth soon realised that it was a bad idea. One, Percy was the one who could swim, not Annabeth - she was more of a flopping fish on land. Two, diving off the deck of a ship at least fractured a few of her bones, and she could already tell that her collarbone was somewhat misaligned, wincing at the sharp tendrils of pain shooting up and down her neck.

Ignoring that, she hung the noose around Percy and tugged the rope twice sharply, hoping that whoever on board would receive the signal.

Thankfully, both Travis and Katie were able to pull up Percy and Annabeth, before Annabeth ran out of breath. Tossing them a life buoy, they dashed towards the lower levels to pick them up from the sea.

Percy had awakened by the time they went towards the lower levels, and was breathing heavily, staring hard at his right hand - or what was left of it. Annabeth was trying to calm him down, and prevent him from going into shock once again. "Percy, it's fine. You still have your left arm, and we can probably get you a fake right arm."

"My right arm! I'm a right-hander, a master swordsman whose master hand is my right one, and I lose it! How in the name of Zeus am I going to survive as a demigod?" Percy howled.

The flesh had healed already, possibly due to his quick regenerative properties underwater, but that did not stop the ugly scar from forming.

Travis' heart clenched. _What did Percy do to insult the Fates in his previous lifetime?_

"Anyways, let's get you to rest." Katie gestured to the ghost captain, who was looking on with concern in a corner. "Don't try to speed up our journey for this time. Percy needs time to heal." The ghost captain nodded before scurrying off, probably to give instructions to the ghost crew.

Travis motioned to Katie, "Come on, let's go get our spoil of war."

Katie looked at Travis blankly, "Spoil of war?"

"You don't think the Prophecy made us come between a rock and a hard place for nothing, did you?"

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"Percy, you're running a fever," Annabeth muttered worriedly as she dipped a piece of wet cloth into a bucket of ice cold water, and draping it across his forehead.

Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand before she could pull back. Percy's eyes were unfocused, but his tone was steady. "Who are you really, Annabeth?"

Annabeth gulped. She knew this conversation was coming, but no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to ready herself for it. Sighing, she turned to face Percy fully, placing her hands on Percy's feverish ones. "Do you remember anything about me at all?"

Percy shook his head frustratedly. "I feel like I should, but I don't. I can remember exact words that my mom used to say, but there seems to be days that are just...blank. Like I'm missing something in my life."

Annabeth had no idea how Percy could be so romantic even after losing his memories. Taking a deep breath, she revealed, "I was your girlfriend for two years and over, Percy. We had known each other for years before, ever since we were twelve. Do you remember any of that?"

Percy shook his head slowly. "No, but you're still not telling me something. I can hear it in your voice."

"You had...proposed to me the night before you went missing."

Percy let this new information sink to his mind for a while. _Here I am, talking to my fiance that I don't even recall proposing to her about._ "Don't worry, Annabeth, I'll try to get back my memories. For some reason, I hate to see you suffer."

 _Same, Percy,_ Annabeth thought as she finally let out a smile, the room seemingly brightening slightly, _so do I, for you._

Percy leant back and closed his eyes, letting out a hot breath. "I still can't believe I lost my arm." Percy muttered bitterly.

Annabeth placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "One-handed or not, you're still a Hero of Olympus - twice. Nothing can change that."

Tears welled up in Percy's eyes, and he willed them not to come out. "Should have known it was impossible to come out of the demigod world unscathed. I was such a fool to think I could lead a normal life. Maybe Luke was right after all - the Gods don't care about us."

Annabeth turned Percy to face her, "Don't you dare say that! Look, you're a son of the big three. You can do it, just like how you saved Olympus, just like how you saved me countless times. You just have to pull through this. And I'm here for you. I'll always be here with you, even if you don't remember me. Do you understand, Seaweed Brain?"

Percy nodded, dumbfounded. "How can I not after that Oscar-worthy speech?" Percy leant back once more. "Anyways, tell me more about our adventures together. Maybe it'll trigger my memories back, plus I need to get my mind off my arm anyways." he grunted.

Annabeth leant on Percy's left shoulder (she did not want to admit to Percy, but she shuddered every time she touched the nub of Percy's right arm.. _Though Percy may not remember me, he still has the same body, the same physique, the same scent..._ "Let's start after you entered Camp Half-Blood, half-dragging Grover with you, and Zeus claimed you were the one who stole his thunderbolt..."

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"Any idea what that is?" Katie motioned to the weird device that Travis was holding up.

"Nope, no clue," Travis replied, "Maybe Annabeth knows?"

"Probably. We'll ask her tomorrow when Percy and she are rested well enough to continue onto their quests. In the meantime, let's not tinker around too much with that device, just in case we cause the ship to explode or something." Katie took the metal-like device from Travis and put it into one of the shelves gingerly, knowing how trouble-prone Travis was.

"So, our next location is at the Fire Island? Kind of suits the name of "The Hot Seat", don't you think?"

"The thing is, I can't put a finger on why it's called a 'seat'. It just looks like a huge strip of land, nothing like how a 'seat' looks like."

"I suppose we'll have to fight more monsters and Gods trying to kill us while trying to save the world?"

"Yup, pretty much." Katie agreed, before lapsing into silence. It wasn't the awkward kind of silence tho; it was more of the 'let's be silent and just enjoy whatever moment we have with each other' kind of silence.

"You know, I still haven't thanked you for saving my life earlier today." Travis interrupted the silence with a smirk.

"Yeah?" Katie caught on, "So, where's my 'thank-you'?"

Travis cupped his hand around Katie's cheek, brushing one of Katie's strands of hair behind her ear. "It's coming," he whispered, before leaning over and kissing Katie delicately.

Katie melted into him, pressing against him desperately. Travis responded with fervour, before he pulled away, leaning his forehead against hers. "You should rest a bit," he whispered, "You've worked hard as the quest leader."

Katie pecked Travis once more on the lips, before leaning back on the bed and closing her eyes, quickly succumbing to slumber within seconds as exhaustion washed over her.

Travis helped to pull the blankets over her, making sure she stayed nice amd comfy. _Sweet dreams, Katie,_ Travis thought as he gently kissed the top of her head.

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The four demigods were refreshed and seated in the control room - while Percy was looking slightly miffed at how close he had really been with Annabeth. _I will get back my memories for the sake of her! Otherwise, she won't stop hurting._

"Our next destination is Fire Island, as indicated by the maps." Katie continued, pointing to the 3D-holographic map in the centre of the room.

Percy frowned, "But isn't our next destination the Hot Seat, according to the prophecy?"

Travis nodded, "Katie and I have been trying to find any correlations between 'The Hot Seat' and Fire Island, but we couldn't find any. The only thing we could correlate with was the 'fire' and 'hot' part."

"Then again, prophecies are extremely hard to predict, and often do not go the way we think they do," Annabeth commented.

"Anyways, Travis and I found this at where Scylla died - probably her spoil of war. Any idea what this does?"

Annabeth studied the weird-looking device. "Percy, take a look at this. Doesn't this kind of look like the Thermos of Winds that Hermes gave us?"

Percy held the thing and inspected it, "I suppose so, but I don't recall it being that light. Isn't that thing supposed to contain the 4 wind gods? Plus, I'm pretty sure we lost that thing, and Hermes had complained to me once when we met."

"Well, it's just a hunch. I'm not really sure what it does though, so let's not open it yet. When the time comes, we'll know, right?"

Katie nodded, placing it in a secured drawer.

"Moving on, how are we supposed to defeat two gods - Phobos and Deimos?" Katie bit her lip with worry.

Travis turned to Percy, "Didn't you defeat Lord Ares before?"

Percy flushed, "It was nothing, people were just overstating the truth."

"What overstating? You beat Lord Ares in a one-for-one swordfight! When you were 12, no less!" Annabeth gushed.

Percy scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "To be fair, we were fighting on the beach, so I had the sea help me a little. Well, I did successfully fend off Phobos and Deimos, though I had the help of the fishes in the aquarium. They mainly fight with their powers - Deimos can cause an entire crowd of people to panic, while Phobos gets more personal, showing you your deepest fears and scaring the hell out of you."

"So as long as we stay near the water, we have a chance of beating them?" Katie suggested.

Percy shrugged. "I had Clarisse's help the other time, so I'm not sure. Annabeth, any plans?"

Annabeth had been deep in thought the entire team, formulating a plan in her mind. "I think I have an idea."

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 **A/N**

This is the most fluff I've written in 1 chapter xD

Anyways, hope you still liked it :D

Is the plot development too slow? Or is it all right?

R&R ^.^


	12. Chapter 12: The Hot Seat

**Chapter 12**

Percy breathed in the familiar air as the WSP entered familiar waters. "So close, yet so far," he muttered, looking out further towards the shoreline, seeing Long Island not too far off. He could even sense Camp Half-Blood there, filled with wonderful memories, but at the same time, he felt like he was missing out on something.

Percy wanted to barge right into the Empire State's Building 100th floor, go up to the Gods and slap everyone's faces - well, maybe excluding a few gods, but you get the idea. He was so pissed at the Gods for dragging him along into this grand prophecy all over again. He knew not why, but he had regained his memory of him proposing to Annabeth. He recalled that he had already planned their future out - he would have a peaceful life with Annabeth, enjoying their retirement from a full-time demigod, and maybe become a trainer in swordplay in Camp Half-Blood, while Annabeth could work from "home" as the Architect of Olympus. They would rent a room from the Big House, grow old together. And if Chiron did not have any room available, they would migrate to Camp Jupiter, and slightly "abuse" his power as a praetor to make the Roman demigods accept Annabeth, a daughter of Athena (or Minerva, Percy wasn't sure). They would take walks along the Tiber River, grow up and have families together, enjoying their lives...

But the grandest plan that he had ever made was all gone. It was not possible, at least for a few more months. He had no idea how long the grand prophecy was going to take to take into effect - but he knew that he could not stop being the Hero everyone looked up to anytime soon. He had to take care of his friends' lives, especially Annabeth, seeing as he had hurt her so bad. Though on the plus side, he could rest slightly, seeing as he was not the leader of the quest, while saving the world once more.

 _Not a bad choice, if I do say so myself..._

Thinking of Annabeth brought on conflicting memories. He had no idea how to feel about her - whether he was supposed to pretend to gain back his memories and pretend to love her or admit wholeheartedly that he had no idea who in the name of Hades she was, other than the fact that he supposedly _loved_ her to the end of time.

Percy shook his head, clearing his mind of his thoughts. _I need an empty mind if I want to win this fight - I can let my emotions get the better of me, especially since we're up against Phobos and Deimos._

He sensed Annabeth climbing up the steps and standing beside him. Percy stared at her out of the corner of his eyes.

Percy had to admit - she did look beautiful, though he would never tell her that. _I'm not the Percy that she's in love with - I can't disrupt their relationship. I need to give the old Percy a chance, just in case he regains his memories._ Percy chided himself for thinking such thoughts and resumed looking out towards the sea.

"Do you think my plan will work?" a soft voice came from Annabeth.

"Sure, I guess," Percy replied, not turning to face her. Unknowingly, he had gripped the side of the ship so hard that his knuckles had turned white. "The plan sounds decent, and I suppose having this as a plan is better than having no plan. After all, you're a daughter of Athena. Give yourself some credit."

"I'm just worried that the plan will fail, and we all die, you know? I don't want to have the deaths of my comrades in my hands."

"Don't worry, we'll have one another's backs, right?"

Annabeth sighed, "Yes, I suppose so," Turning back, she walked back down to the bunkers.

Annabeth was as confused as, if not more, than Percy. She had thought their relationship was better, ever since she started recounting their experiences to him. _Apparently not, seems like he still doesn't like me, let alone have any memories of me._ Annabeth sighed once more - all she could seem to do was sigh nowadays.

When they had neared Fire Island, Annabeth was tempted to scream at the ghost captain to turn the ship around and head straight towards Camp Half-Blood, so Clovis could take a look at Percy and maybe allow him to regain his memories. Or crash through the whole of New York and south, just so Zeus could get Percy's _freaking_ memory fixed. But she didn't. She had to put the prophecy first, just like how she had done so for so the 2 other times, instead of their relationship. And Annabeth wasn't sure if the sacrifice could keep up any longer.

Annabeth gazed ruefully at Travis and Katie's door, not wanting to know whatever they were doing inside there. They had found consolation with each other, something Annabeth used to do a lot with Percy. Don't get her wrong - Annabeth was glad they had finally gotten together after "God knows how long they were flirting" - but she was jealous. Jealous that they had each other to lean on; jealous that they could easily find consolation in each other; jealous that they could easily communicate with each other. Whereas Annabeth had to resist the urge to either kick Percy until he regained his memories or kiss the living daylights out of him, despite his lack of memories of her.

Annabeth sighed again. _Let's just focus on the quest. Maybe the Gods will give Percy one request for anything, and he'll ask for his memories back._

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"The Fire Islands seem too quiet," Travis commented, as the WSP docked beside the tiny cargo ships at the sea port.

The demigods couldn't help but agree - the atmosphere was much too quiet, and it did not seem like there was any trouble brewing at all. "Are you sure we've come to the right place?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, this was on the WSP's destination list, so it must be." Katie insisted, taking one of the first few steps on the island.

Percy shrugged and followed her, "Well, if anything goes south, at least I have the sea around us to help."

Annabeth could only nod in agreement as Travis and she trotted behind them, constantly looking around to keep an eye out for any trouble.

"Don't you think this is a little _too_ suspicious?" Percy whispered to Annabeth, 30 minutes after they continued walking straight to the centre of Fire Island, "We've been walking for eternity, but we haven't seen any monsters yet, or even anyone for that matter!"

Annabeth nodded inconspicuously. "The monsters should have sensed us by now. I've also had this creepy sensation of being watched from afar. Let's keep on our toes."

Just as they said that, a woman appeared suddenly - almost too sudden. "Hey, guys! You guys seem unfamiliar, are you guys tourists?"

Katie's suspicion rose. Deciding to continue playing on, she replied, "Yes, we're tourists. Is there anything unusual here that we should know about in this place?"

A sharp glint rose in the woman's eyes. "Ah, yes, there are definitely some things that are... _unusual_ about this place. I'm a tour guide, would you like to go on a tour?" The woman reached towards her back pocket, and the demigods ever so slightly shifted their hands towards their weapons.

But the woman brandished a lanyard with a tour guide ID on it, and the demigods exhaled in relief.

"Sure, lead the way," Travis said.

"This is such a bad idea," Percy whispered to Annabeth.

She could only nod in agreement.

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"Welcome to the Museum of the Fire Islands!" the woman said with grandeur as she spread her arms wide, gesturing for the demigods to follow her. "Here, we have one of our most prized possession, an exact replica of the Nemean Lion! Thought to be extinct back in the 100 BC..." she rattled off a bunch of facts that only Annabeth could possibly be interested in, and even Annabeth wasn't interested, busy keeping a look-out for traps.

They continued following the woman as she rattled off. Travis was more and more intrigued by the exhibits - they all seemed way too life-like for Travis, especially the life-size Drakon that they walked past. It seemed like the eyes of the Drakon followed him wherever they go. He shuddered in fear as the demigods quickly shuffled past the exhibit.

"And last but not least, here we have our greatest architect of all time." the woman bowed exquisitely, as the demigods looked in confusion.

"Your greatest architect is a chair?" Percy mumbled, obviously confused at what the woman was trying to get at.

"Oh, not just any chair, demigods. It's a really special chair," the woman smiled sinisterly.

Annabeth quickly whipped out her Drakon bone sword and lobbed her head off, only to have Katie shriek in surprise. "What are you doing?"

Annabeth countered, "A mere mortal would never know that we are demigods. She was a monster."

"Ah, but you're wrong, daughter of Athena." a voice hissed from Annabeth's feet, and she jumped 3 feet backwards, almost losing her balance if not for Percy who caught her in time. "I'm not a monster, but an automation." the head turned itself on the ground, facing the demigods, while the now headless body of the woman picked the head up and placed it back on its rightful place on its neck. "Demigods, would you like to know what this seat is called?"

"Uhh, your head is placed the wrong way round," Percy quickly pointed out.

The automation's voice changed dramatically, becoming one of menace, and dripping with malice. "It's known as 'The Hot Seat', and you are all doomed to die in this trap." Before the demigods could react, the woman clicked its fingers, before dropping to the floor lifelessly, any form of life gone.

Behind them, the demigods heard the sound of numerous glass planes being smashed, followed by a large roar. "Is that...what I think it is?" Katie shuddered.

Percy stepped in front of the other demigods and nodded, readying Riptide in his hands. "Yup, it's a Drakon."

Before the monsters could round the corner, Katie quickly summoned a wall of shrubs in their path, slowing them tremendously. "Quick, we need to find a place out of here before we get mauled to death!"

Katie's shrubs suddenly lit on fire and were razed to the ground by the Drakon's fire breath, who roared once again. A swarm of monsters surged forward, including the Nemean Lion they saw earlier, and even a few _empousai_ that were dressed in janitor's clothes.

 _Come on, Annabeth, think!_ Annabeth muttered as Percy charged forward to meet the incoming wave, decapitating tens of monsters within seconds with a mere swing of the sword. But even one of the greatest swordsman could not fight forever, and Percy could feel exhaustion hitting him in waves. Not to mention the huge Drakon that was lumbering along the museum, causing the entire floor to shake. Fortunately for the demigods, he was still pretty far away from the demigods.

Travis and Katie were trying their best to fend for themselves, Katie shooting out tendrils of stems to constrict monsters to death, while pelting monsters with huge seeds, killing them with a clean shot through the heart. Travis was using his sword and swinging them at the monsters, a wild look in his eyes. Annabeth could see that they were going to be overrun by monsters soon, and Percy already had a deep gash on his forehead. The demigods formed a "wall" in front of Annabeth, trusting her to think of a solution out of this.

Annabeth's gaze changed to the Hot Seat. It radiated an odd power, but Annabeth had no idea what this seat was supposed to do. She had assumed it would emit flames, but it was cool to the touch when Annabeth touched it. _Well, it's called "The Hot 'Seat'" for a reason,_ Annabeth reasoned as in her final attempt, she sat on the chair.

Annabeth's head exploded into a massive migraine, and she had an out-of-body experience, hearing herself scream in pain. She briefly saw Percy look at her in surprise, before fighting his way through the crowd of monsters, towards her.

Annabeth's soul was forcefully yanked back into her body, and she gasped, her eyes widening in pain. However, all she could see was red, yellow and white - as if the entire Earth was on fire. She screamed as she clutched her head in pain.

To Annabeth, it looked like she was going blind, her vision becoming white, but to the other demigods, flames of fire were frolicking right from Annabeth's eyes. They barely had enough time to dive down in surprise, before the flames passed harmlessly above them. Waves of heat assaulted everyone, and the howls of monsters could be heard as they dissolved into monster dust. Even the Drakon was not spared, its wings were charred first from trying to shield himself, eventually turning into nothing but Drakon bones, and folding amongst itself, reverting back to Tartarus. Percy quickly created a water shield above and around himself, protecting himself from the waves of heat, while Travis used his superhuman speed to quickly "teleport" Katie and himself behind Annabeth, breathing deeply in exhaustion from that short spurt of power.

Eventually, Annabeth's eyes closed, and she slumped forward in her chair, her body hitting the ground, as steam rolled off Annabeth, but not before the museum floor was blackened with soot and yellowed monster dust.

The last thing Annabeth could sense was Percy screaming her name as he rushed forward, reaching for her before she succumbed to darkness.

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 **A/N**

R&R! :D

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter ^.^

Sorry it came out a bit late :/


	13. Chapter 13: Your Wise Girl

**Chapter 13**

"Annabeth!" Percy surged forward through the mess of monster dust and remains towards her, but was unable to catch her before she fell to the ground like a ragless doll. He could only wince as a loud thump echoed throughout the entire museum.

He slid towards her, as Katie quickly pulled out some ambrosia for Annabeth. Travis merely stood stunned behind the chair, unable to comprehend what exactly had happened.

"In the name of Hades..." he muttered, staring at the sea of monster dust.

Percy quickly forced ambrosia down Annabeth's throat, causing her to cough and splutter, though she still did not awaken. Her skin felt hot to the touch - hotter than what a normal demigod will feel after eating ambrosia. It was as if... there was something _live_ and _fiery_ in Annabeth's veins.

"Ah, I see you've discovered the secrets of the Hot Seat..." the sound of high heels ricocheted through the museum hall, causing the demigods to look up. A woman dressed in ruby red dress was walking towards them, her gaze unnerving.

"What secret? What have you done to Annabeth?" Percy growled at the intruder, pulling Annabeth onto his lap, closer to him.

The woman merely waved his gaze away. "Don't worry, she'll be fine, though there are a few minor...ah... _side effects_ to sitting in the Hot Seat. A stupid move, but a valiant attempt at saving you guys."

"I've had enough of new people coming in and out already. Who are you?" Travis readied his sword and pointed it at the woman, earning a chuckle from her.

"How cute, as if a mere sword can damage me." the woman wiggled her fingers, and the sword flew out of Travis' hand, clattering onto the floor a few feet away, leaving Travis stunned at what had just happened. "It would do you wise to respect me, for I am the goddess of magic, Hecate. Keep in mind that I can cause you to die of asphyxiation with a mere tap of my foot."

Katie quickly bowed her head in respect in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "Lady Hecate, do you have any cure for Annabeth?"

"Yes, I do have an antidote." Hecate materialised a bottle of medicine, levitating it in mid-air. "However, the Hot Seat has yet go fulfil its destiny, so she will remain as it is as of now, even if I get her the antidote now." The bottle of medicine disappeared as quickly as it materialised.

"What does Annabeth need to complete before she can revert back to her usual state?" Percy asked.

"You'll find out in due time, demigods. You'll see..." With that, Hecate slowly faded away into nothing, forming nothing but twinkles into the sky.

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Travis and Katie lugged the heavy chair back on board the ship, while Percy piggybacked Annabeth back on board the WSP, immediately tucking her under the blankets, giving her a much-deserved rest.

"What do you think the side effect that Hecate was muttering about is?" Travis grumbled to Katie as they left the ten-million-pound chair in a corner of the room, draping it with a black cloth left anyone "accidentally" sat on it again.

"Can't really say," Katie replied, wiping her sweat off her brows with the back of her hand, "She seems perfectly normal to me, though her skin does feel a little warm to the touch."

In the room, Percy was sitting on the bed beside Annabeth, staring at her while deep in thought. Percy was extremely conflicted with his emotions. He was quite sure that he himself had fallen for Annabeth. Percy sighed. _Quite ironic, really_ , he thought, _falling for the same person twice, even as two different personalities._ The situation was getting more and more complicated - he could tell Annabeth was growing closer and closer to the Percy that had lost his memories - and he was attempting to diffuse the tension by staying away from Annabeth. _Not the greatest coping mechanism, but it was worth a shot._

Percy honestly wanted to respect Annabeth's and the other Percy's relationship. As it was, he seemed to be treading on ice at every single moment, afraid that with some misstep, Annabeth would be hurt forever, and he was sure that both 'Percy's did not want that to happen.

Percy reached out to caress her cheek but quickly stopped himself before he let his emotions get the better of him.

Just at that moment, Annabeth stirred. Coughing, she opened her eyes briefly before shutting them once more.

"How are you feeling?" Percy propped Annabeth up with a pillow at her back, handing her a glass of water to quench her thirst, though he himself was having trouble carrying out actions with one hand.

Annabeth reached blindly for the glass of water, before downing it in one go. She gently gave me back the glass of water. Her eyes were still closed though, and she was constantly trying to squint through her eyelids.

Percy sensed something was amiss. Concerned, he asked, "Are you okay?"

Annabeth reached out her hands, desperately trying to feel for Percy. "Percy, where are you?" she gasped, "I can't see anything."

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Katie rubbed her brows, asking, "Is this the side effect that Hecate was referring to?"

Annabeth asked, tilting her head, "Hecate? What happened when I was out?"

Travis recounted the entire encounter with Hecate to Annabeth, "We have no idea whose side Hecate is on, she just spoke a few words and left."

While Annabeth looked on in focus, Percy was busy fussing around Annabeth, constantly checking with her whether she needed any help with anything. Percy still found it eerie that for a newly blind person, Annabeth was able to pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from, turning her head to look straight in the direction (probably because of all the hand-eye-ear coordination practice that she had, though Percy didn't have his memories to remember that).

Percy sighed again as Annabeth waved him away again for the umpteenth time. Percy tightened his fist at his sides, pissed at the Fates. _I was already mad at you old hags for doing this to me, and now you have to drag Annabeth in too?_

"Percy, are you alright?" Katie interrupted Travis suddenly, looking at Percy with worry.

Percy suddenly realised he had been clenching his fist so hard that his fingernails had broken into his skin, and blood had spilt from his palm. "I'm fine, I just need some rest," Percy muttered, quickly excusing himself and heading towards the bathroom to rinse off the blood.

Annabeth frowned. "Anyways, when I try to open my eyes, I get flooded with a super bright white light - brighter than Apollo riding his chariot himself. That's why I can't open my eyes fully, otherwise, I'll get a huge migraine just for trying. I'm pretty sure if I actually open my eyes fully, my head will split into two."

Travis and Katie looked at each other in worry. The quest was not going well so far. They had one more destination they needed to go, but with Percy memory-less and Annabeth now blind, their chances of success had just dwindled down to a single digit. Not to mention that they had totally no idea what they were supposed to do for this quest, other than to help Percy regain his memories, and now for Annabeth to regain her eyesight. "I suppose we could continue this discussion on a later date when everyone is well-rested. I just checked with the ghost captain, and he said we had around 1 full day before we reached our next destination: The Easter Island."

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Percy hissed when he rinsed his fingernails which were caked with blood. He never liked blood, especially the metallic smell of it, but he accepted that it was part and parcel of a demigod's life - he had way too many experiences with blood than he liked, both others' blood and his own blood. Percy rinsed his hand under the tap and rubbed his face wearily, seemingly ageing by a few years.

"Percy, are you alright?" he heard Annabeth entering the bathroom.

"Annabeth!" Percy rushed forward to help Annabeth, who was sticking as close to the wall as possible, gripping as many things as she could to navigate her way through the door of the bathroom - it was a miracle she had not fallen down. "What are you doing here?" Percy guided Annabeth and sat her on the closed toilet seat.

"I came to check on you," Annabeth replied, looking slightly below Percy's eyes, her aim of sight slightly off. "You seem off today, Percy. What's wrong?"

"I'm just tired of everything that's happening, Annabeth," Percy said wearily. "I mean, the Fates already took my memories and my hand away, and now they take your eyesight from you. For all I know, they could take away our very lives, Annabeth," Percy let out an outburst. "I don't want to lose you again, Annabeth," he added on, mumbling the last sentence.

Annabeth's "gaze" softened. "Don't worry, Percy, you won't." She reached out her hands, feeling my face. "Don't cry," she muttered as she used her thumb to wipe away the tears welling up in my eyes. "Come on. You have to be strong for the others, for Katie and Travis, for Olympus."

Percy knew he was going to regret his next action but he ignored the nagging feeling at the back of his mind. Pressing forward, he moulded his lips onto Annabeth's. Annabeth gasped at first but quickly responded in fervour. The duo poured both their despair and desperation into the kiss, clinging onto each other for support as if their lives depended on it - to a certain extent it was.

Percy's eyes suddenly widened as he stepped back, cursing himself as his back banged loudly against the wall. "I...I'm sorry..." Percy quickly left the bathroom and shut the door behind him swiftly, his footsteps echoing as they soon disappeared, leaving a very helpless but conflicted Annabeth standing alone in the bathroom.

Annabeth had not known what had gotten over Percy or herself, but she realised one thing: Percy had fallen for her once again. And he had fallen hard.

She exited the bathroom as swiftly as possible, sticking closely to the walls of the ship. Fortunately for her, her good memories served her justice, remembering the general outline of the ship, though she could not remember the exact distance from one location to another or the steps she needed to take to get to her destination.

Annabeth still found it weird to blind - it was like becoming a Cyclops, but losing both eyes, and her movement immediately became extremely limited. She was almost unable to function as a human being, or in her case, a demigod. She wondered how the blind ever went about their daily lives independently, where she literally had to spend nearly 30 minutes just to navigate from one end of the ship to the other. On the plus side, all her other senses were indeed heightened significantly - she could hear more clearly the sound of the waves lapping against the hull of the ship, smell the salt of the sea that reminded her so much of Percy, and feel the more complex contours of a surface, using her mind to map out anything her hands touched. She supposed she had the countless blueprints she had worked on to thank.

Annabeth stumbled outside the door of Travis and Katie's room, wanting to open it but quickly deciding against it, hearing the muffled sounds coming from within the room - she did _not_ want to barge in on any intimate moment, recalling the numerous embarrassing moments when she and Percy got _slightly_ out of hand.

She headed to the location where Percy was most likely to be - the deck of the ship. She knew that it calmed him the most, being out in the open sea, hearing the waves hit the hull of the ship rhythmically.

"Annabeth..." she heard a mumble to her right and muffled footsteps as Percy tried to sneak past her to avoid the incoming conversation.

"Wait, don't go," Annabeth reached out, panicking, and lost her footing momentarily, gripping onto Percy's shirt for support.

"Jeez, you're not supposed to be moving about, Annabeth, you're supposed to be resting," Percy's over-protective side took over for a moment as he silently chided Annabeth, who only flushed in response. "What in the name of Hades are Katie and Travis doing - they're supposed to be taking care of you."

Annabeth decided not to comment on his last statement, instead saying determinedly, "We need to talk, Percy."

She heard Percy sigh and the sound of ruffled hair, no doubt coming from Percy running his fingers through his hair. "Of course," he mumbled, before guiding her to the side of the ship and placing her hands on the railing. "Look, I'm sorry for what happened in the bathroom. I let my emotions get the better of me, and it'll never happen again, I promise."

Annabeth replied, "But if I want it to happen?"

A moment of silence passed by. "I'm staring at you in confusion, by the way," Percy said dryly.

A brief smile appeared on her face, but it quickly disappeared, "I know that deep down, you're still the same Percy that I know long ago. Losing some memories will not come between you and me. Do you remember what you said to me during our first night together?"

"No, I don't."

"You said, 'Not even the Fates can come between us; I won't allow it.' We can overcome this together, Percy. You don't have to shut me out like I'm some...outsider that doesn't know you. I do know you, sometimes better than I think you do yourself."

Percy only nodded in submission, pulling Annabeth into an awkward one-armed hug. "Thank you, Annabeth, for being there for me, when I'm in need at the harshest times I'm going through," he muttered.

Annabeth nodded slightly. "It's my role as your Wise Girl, after all."

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 **A/N**

Thanks for reading!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, was mostly trying to explain what was really going on. Though, it may still be slightly confusing, I'll be trying to explain even more as the story progresses. ^.^

R&R

Edited: I kind of forgot that Percy had lost one of his arms. :P Thanks for TridentHallowsDauntless for reminding me ^.^


	14. Chapter 14: The Easter Islands

**Chapter 14**

"Travis, stop," Katie muttered, pushing Travis away.

Travis merely smirked, staring down at Katie. "What's the problem?"

"We have to focus on the quest, Travis. Plus, I just heard a thump outside our door."

Travis whined, but complied, falling beside Katie. "I thought we could finally have some alone time," he muttered, pouting.

Katie whacked him lightly, chiding, "Stop distracting me! We need to discuss our next action plan."

"Yeah, yeah," Travis muttered, leaning back against the pillows beside Katie. "So, the Easter Island?"

"Yup, somewhere off the coast of Chile. It's an isolated island on its own, so it should be relatively easy to get to by boat, plus the fewer the mortals, the better. We don't have to worry about them dying to monsters on the loose."

"So, should we expect more Gods and Goddesses? Hecate pretty much popped out of nowhere, and the twin brothers of Ares just left."

Katie frowned, "I think we should discuss this with Annabeth, "She may have an idea of what's going on."

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When Travis and Katie entered the control room, they were slightly surprised to see Percy and Annabeth chatting away amiably, whilst having lunch. "What happened to them?" Travis whispered to Katie.

Shrugging her shoulders, she replied, "I have no idea. On the other hand, Annabeth looks much better, like she's glowing."

"I agree."

They quickly took their food and seated themselves next to Annabeth and Percy, digging into their mushy but nonetheless filling meals. They had no idea where the meals came from, but decided not to question the ghost captain lest the food disappeared. (You can't blame them for thinking like that - they're demigods.)

"I have a feeling there is more to this than meets the eye," said Annabeth, 30 minutes later, as they discussed the next destination - the Easter Islands. "We can pretty much confirm that Phobos and Deimos are fighting for the monsters, but Hecate is just a big question mark. She kind of took Hazel in as her apprentice, so I don't suppose she has any real reason to go against her."

"Why are there so many gods and goddesses involved in the first place?" Percy grumbled. "Even the Great Prophecy didn't have that many godly beings involved. Is there some revolt going on right now, that we should know of?"

"Speaking of which, I heard Chiron say something super-important just that other day when I asked him for a prophecy. He said there was another war on our hands, mentioned by Lord Dionysus himself. And knowing the Fates, we're probably involved in this."

Travis sighed. "I'm really jealous of you, Percy. How are you still alive after saving the world twice? I mean, sure, we all helped kill Gaia, but man Percy, you really are on a whole new level."

Percy flushed. "Well, I couldn't have done it without the other five demigods."

Annabeth looked at Percy with a pointed look. Though Annabeth couldn't really _see_ Percy per se, the intended effect came through nonetheless. In fact, Percy felt that Annabeth staring at him with her eyes closed were even more intimidating - like she could see all his actions without having to actually look at him. "I mean six," Percy quickly added, in an attempt to douse the fire in Annabeth's "eyes".

Katie stifled a giggle. "So, the Easter Islands. But isn't that out of the Greek region already?"

Percy frowned, "I recall coming into contact with the Egyptian mythology. Remember Carter? He was the host of Horus, the patron of Lower Egypt. Maybe there're other Gods that we didn't know of?"

Travis agreed, "Probably. If there are Greek and Egyptian gods, it'd hardly be impossible to have Gods from other mythologies. But what's that got to do with saving Olympus, that's what I can't understand."

Percy frowned in thought, "I do recall a phrase in the prophecy: 'the destruction of both worlds'. Maybe both worlds refer to our world and theirs?"

"Whatever it is, we'll just have to deal with more gods and Titans." Annabeth groaned.

The ghost captain appeared before them and announced, "The Easter Islands. We're here."

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"So, are we here for sightseeing, or..." Percy scanned his surroundings, met with nothing but lush greenery. There was hardly any civilisation, not a single soul or hut in sight. "Is the Easter Island always this...barren?"

"Oh, hush." Katie chided. "How is it barren? Can you not feel the nature flowing around you?" She gestured around her. "Look at the sheer size of the greenery around here!"

"We're not all children of Demeter, Katie. I'd rather stay in my cabin and sleep, to be honest... Plus when I said barren I was referring to the ' _anyone home_ ', that kind of barren," Percy countered, brushing his one hand through his hair.

Suddenly, a figure brushed past them, grabbing the contraption they got from Scylla from Percy's belt and raced away into the fields of tall barley. "Hey! Give that back!" the demigods started giving chase to the nimble and quick figure.

However, the distance between the creature and the demigods only furthered by every second. Soon after, the creature slipped into a foliage and disappeared from view.

The demigods were left panting in the creature's dust, trying to regain their breaths and wounded egos before they resumed the search for the creature. "What in the name of Hades was that?" Katie exclaimed.

"Don't know, don't care. I just know that it has the spoil of war from Scylla, and we need to get it back ASAP." Travis muttered. "Come on, we'll split up. There's a path just right ahead, Katie and I will go left, Percy and Annabeth will go right." Pulling Katie's hand, they stomped off towards the left.

"Bet you that they just want some time to themselves," Percy whispered to Annabeth, earning a giggle from her. "Come on, we have a creature to catch." He put his hand on her back, leading the way for them.

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"So, how are we going to catch something that we have no idea what the heck is, or where it went?" Katie asked.

"Oh shush, we'll just look around. We're bound to find something," Travis answered vaguely, letting go of Katie's hand. Katie fell into step beside him, still admiring the scenery around them.

"Actually, why are we so concerned about that thing? We don't even have any idea what that thing is!" Katie frowned. "Aren't we overreacting?"

"Wait, keep quiet for a second," Travis suddenly shushed Katie.

Katie's eyes widened as they stopped any actions that they were doing - they even stopped breathing for a while. For that split second, they were as still as a stone, keeping their eyes and ears peeled for any changes in their surrounding.

30 seconds later, Katie frowned. "You're just shushing me for the fun out of it, aren't you Travis?" She stood akimbo, ready to give him a piece of her mind, before Travis clamped a hand tightly on her mouth, and literally dragged Katie into the bushes. Katie was going to drive her elbow into his solar plexus for toying with her, before noticing the wide, alarmed look on Travis' face.

Seconds later, footsteps could be heard from the pathway, with the clanking of heavy armour. "I swear the sound came from here," the hiss of a _dracaena_ reverberated throughout the air - mere inches away from where Travis and Katie were hiding.

"HA! You must be going daft from all this nature!" another _dracanae_ hissed. Travis could peer through the thin foliage, that the two _dracanae_ were armed to the teeth, literally - their fangs were exceptionally sharp as if they had been purposely sharpened. "Come on, let's not waste any time; the bosses will be angry if we return late, especially if we turn up to the meeting empty-handed."

Out of the blue, a cheer erupted from far away, earning the attention of the _dracaena_. "Quick, head there!" the two _dracanae_ slithered away, and soon Travis and Katie were left all alone once more.

Once they were certain that the coast was clear, they climbed out of the foliage, Katie patting the dust off her. "Did you just hear what I did?"

Travis nodded grimly, a rare look of seriousness on his face, with not a single hint of mischievousness in his eyes. "Come on, we've got to keep looking. I'm certain that the creature is somehow linked to them."

The duo continued on the path, and fortunately, they met no resistance along the way. They were still very much jittery though and were jumping at shadows. Travis was sure Percy would have laughed at him for being so "jumpy", but he feared for their lives - both his and Katie's. As much as he did not want to admit it, it was ironic that he was the one pulling all the pranks when he could easily be pranked by a jump-scare.

Soon, the duo cleared the forest behind them, coming face-to-face with a grand sight - the Easter Heads, otherwise known as the _moai_. "Ah, so that's what this island is so well-known for..." Travis muttered.

Katie, however, had a nagging feeling at the back of her head. Summoning a bush between 2 close thick trees, it was her turn to drag Travis in, laying prone on the ground to spy on the Easter Islands.

Her instincts were right. Moments later, one of the heads rumbled slightly, revealing a trapdoor from one of the Easter Head bodies. Katie and Travis both gasped as the ground below them began to rumble, indicating signs of machinery as the ground below them literally roared to life. Travis had a minor flashback to around 2 years ago when Camp Half-Blood fought against Gaia. It was the exact same scenario - the demigods could only fall helplessly as the ground literally swallowed them up. Fortunately, Katie and Travis were able to keep their balance, still remaining hidden in the bush that Travis created.

Katie let out a small gasp suddenly. She was pulled up from the ground, the shrub that she was hiding in shrivelling and dying quickly as Katie lost focus on maintaining the shrub. "Travis!" she screamed, scrambling for something - anything - to grab a hold on but to no avail. As she hung upside down, she came face-to-face with a one-eyed monster - a Cyclops to be precise.

Travis, after regaining his balance from the mini-earthquake, got to his feet and whipped out his celestial bronze sword, causing the cyclops to hiss in fright, though his grip on Katie's leg tightened, causing her to cry out in pain.

Travis, blinded by anger, charged straight towards the Cyclops. He barely dodged the incoming fist thrown out by the Cyclops, before retreating and calming himself down. _I won't be able to save Katie if I lose my composure_ _._ Remembering all the training that he underwent in Camp Half-Blood, he charged forward, but this time more level-headed.

As the Cyclops threw another punch, Travis smirked - the Cyclops had underestimated him and went for a killing blow, putting his entire weight in the punch. _His mistake,_ he thought as he swiftly ducked under the Cyclops' punch. He chuckled inwardly when he sighted the shocked expression on the Cyclops' face, before swiftly thrusting his sword at a well-positioned spot, swiftly ending the Cyclops' life.

The Cyclops let out a final howl before it began to dissolve into monster dust, blown away quickly by the dust. Travis quickly sheathed his sword and caught Katie before she fell to the ground. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

Katie took in a deep breath, before pulling Travis into a hug. "Thanks for saving me." she apologised.

Travis smiled. Although Travis could not see Katie's facial expressions, he was certain that he was breathing his scent in as much as he could - thanking him for saving her life, and reminding herself that Travis was there when she needed him the most.

"Sorry for making you worry like that," Katie mumbled, opening her eyes, before stiffening.

Travis noticed the change in Katie's composure and pulled back from the hug. "Is something wrong?"

Katie pointed behind Travis and said darkly, "We have more company."

Turning around, Travis was taken aback. There was a pack of _dracanae_ behind them, similar to those that they had spotted earlier.

"See," one of them hissed, "I knew that there were demigods around here. I can smell them from miles away."

"You can gloat later, Queen Sess," another hissed, "He will be pleased that we brought back some fresh blood."

Travis glowered. Today was really not his day. Whipping out his sword and getting into his battle stance, he asked, "Do you want to surrender and peacefully?"

Katie smiled evilly - Travis could only be glad that he was not on the receiving end of that glare. "You know me so well, Travis."

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Annabeth heard two yells emanating from the direction that Katie and Travis left. Pulling on Percy's arm, she asked, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I think Katie and Travis are in trouble, we need to help them!" Annabeth turned and ran, but was quickly pulled back by Percy. "What are you doing? They're in trouble!" Annabeth said exasperatedly.

"I am aware of that Annabeth, but I can't help but feel that it's a trap. Plus, you're literally blind now, so don't go running off on your own. Let me lead you in the general direction." Percy said worriedly.

Annabeth frowned but nodded anyways. She had a sudden urge to roll her eyes, but decided against it, seeing as Percy couldn't see her eyes anyways.

Percy cleared a path for Annabeth through the dense forest, all the while making sure that she didn't trip and fall due to her eyesight - or lack thereof.

After a good 30 minutes hike, they arrived at what was obviously a battle scene. There were still traces of monster dust on the floor, and there were bows and arrows left scattered all over. "I can smell a...Cyclops. Be careful, Percy."

Percy decided not to comment on how exactly she knew how a Cyclops smelled like. He nodded, before realising that Annabeth had no way to see it, feeling slightly foolish for his actions. He spotted a familiar glint on the ground and picked up an all-too-familiar celestial bronze sword. He instantly recognised it as Travis. Not to mention the numerous shrivelled plants nearby, indicating that it was the work of Katie. "Darn, they really are in trouble," Percy muttered under his breath.

Percy and Annabeth ventured slightly further from the battle scene, towards the cliff of the hill that he was on. Percy let out a loud gasp at what he saw.

"Percy, what's out there?" Annabeth tugged on his arm urgently.

"There's a horde of monsters out there - and I mean a _horde_. There's more monsters than down in the Museum that we just left. Travis and Katie are tied up right smack in the middle of the horde."

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 **A/N**

Sorry it came out a bit late again :(

Anyways, I won't be that frequent in updating this story from now on, due to examinations. (I'm still in school :P) Hope you guys understand ^.^

R&R


	15. Chapter 15: The Trumping Titans

**Chapter 15**

Percy could only stare in horror at the two unconscious demigods, who were bound up. As far as Percy could tell, Travis and Katie were unmoving - he could only pray to Hades that they had not entered the Underworld yet.

"Great...the handicapped people are the ones that have to save the day..." Percy muttered sarcastically.

Annabeth bit her lip worriedly. Judging from Percy's tone, things were not looking brightly. To make matters worse, they were both handicapped - Percy had lost his right arm and had close to no practice with wielding a sword with his left arm. Then there was Annabeth, blind and next to useless in fighting against a horde of monsters. _Come on, Annabeth, think!_

"Percy, can you sense any water nearby?" an idea formulated in Annabeth's plan.

"Yeah, why? There's tons of water nearby - this island is surrounded by the sea, remember?"

"How much energy will it take for you to conjure all the water and flush all the monsters away?"

Percy frowned, "But that would flush Katie and Travis away too. Besides, I don't think I've fully recovered my strength from the previous fight yet, so the attack might fail."

The idea disappeared just as quickly. Annabeth fell into silence again, trying to think of any idea to infiltrate the monsters, and at the very least escape with Travis and Katie alive.

Just then, a yelp sounded before a lithe figure dropped from above.

Both Percy and Annabeth jumped back in surprise. The figure, which proved to be a human, stood up and brushed leaves and twigs off of himself as if it was a normal occurrence for him to simply drop from the sky.

Percy quickly whipped out Riptide, stepping between the human and Annabeth. "Who are you, and where did you come there?"

"Apologies," the male bowed slightly. "I was in pursuit of my pet. Have you happened to see a Monfunk pass through here?"

Percy crunched his eyebrows in confusion. "A Monfunk?"

"You know, small build, white fur, emits squeaks when agitated?"

Annabeth frowned. "Are the squeaks in the 3rd octave, in an "A sharp" frequency?"

The male scratched his head, "Uhh...yeah, sure! Have you seen him anywhere?"

Percy caught on to Annabeth's thought. "He sounds really like this creature that stole something from us."

The human cursed under his breath for his pet's actions. "That stupid pug..."

Annabeth was only more confused. "Pug?"

"Yeah. Big and cumbersome, but practically useless? You don't have those?"

Annabeth frowned. "Not that I know of."

"Trust me, she knows a lot," Percy added.

"If I recall, though, a creature with the same description as yours stole something of ours," Annabeth continued.

The male sighed, "How typical of her. Never mind, I shall disturb you no more." With that, he quickly sprinted into the forest, disappearing from Percy's sight within seconds.

Percy turned back to Annabeth and jumped back in fright.

"Nice to know that you are glad to see me," Hecate said dryly, emerging from behind Annabeth.

Annabeth wheeled around and faced Hecate, stumbling back from the sudden intrusion."In our defence, you tried to kill us the last time we met!"

"Bah! Trivial matters, really," Hecate waved her hand, tendrils of purple magic shooting out from her fingertips. "I'm here for something important. You can thank me later," she shot out her hand towards Percy and Annabeth.

Percy stared horrified as horns appeared from Annabeth's head, her blonde curls fading into grey. "What have you done to Annabeth?" he shrieked in horror.

"Don't worry, it's the Mist. Hecate's merely manipulating our appearance to seem like monsters," Annabeth reassured, feeling the familiar feeling of the Mist covering her like a veil. _If only I could see how hideous Percy looks_ , she chuckled inwardly.

"Oh," Percy felt stupid for overreacting, his face burning in embarrassment. "Why are you helping us anyway?"

"You will know in time, my dear demigods. A favour is all I ask..." Hecate vanished just as instantly as she arrived.

Percy sighed, sinking to his knees. "I need to take a break,"

Annabeth plopped down beside him, feeling for his hand and taking it into her own. "We'll get through this, I know we will,"

"For both our sake, I hope we do," Percy stared at the sea of monsters. "Wait, I just might have got a plan,"

"We both know better than to follow your plan," Annabeth commented dryly.

"Trust me, it's a perfect plan," Percy said confidently.

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It was not a perfect plan. Far from it.

To be fair, Percy had managed to infiltrate the monsters, garnering no suspicion from anyone. Other than an _empousai_ , that is, who had slithered her arm over Percy's chest, claiming that his stub arm was a battle wound that she thought made him more attractive.

Annabeth had been literally smoking when they passed, her hand merely centimetres away from her sword hidden by the veil of Mist.

All had gone according to plan - they were heading in the direction of Katie and Travis, located right smack in the centre of the campsite.

"Isn't this going a little too well?" Percy mumbled to Annabeth quietly.

He had to jinx it.

The monsters suddenly began howling, shrieking like banshees and no doubt creating chaos. Percy and Annabeth were unable to proceed further, deciding to hide in the horde of monsters lest they draw attention to themselves.

"Ah, the twin brothers, you have finally returned," a loud voice boomed to their right. They turned their heads, every other monster doing the same as well. Percy's grip tightened on Riptide. _Phobos and Deimos, and...another titan?_

"Indeed," Phobos grinned, his golden eyes twinkling. "We have retrieved the artefacts you have deemed necessary for our conquest. And I see you have 2 demigods who have tried unsuccessfully to stop us."

"They are merely pawns in our game! Let's kill them!" the unknown Titan stepped forward, thumping his fists against his chest.

"Monoetius, you always the rash one," Deimos stepped forward, shaking his head condescendingly and earning a frown from the Titan. "You must be wary. While these 2 may seem useless, there are 2 other demigods with them - the spawns of Poseidon and Athena."

At the mention of those names, the monsters around them hissed venomously. Both Percy and Annabeth stepped up unknowingly, the killing intent among the monsters growing by the second. Many of the monsters' last sight before reforming in Tartarus had been either Riptide or Annabeth's Yankee baseball cap. Despite the fear he felt, Percy felt pride that he was "famous" among the monsters.

"How many more artefacts do we need to claim?" Monoetius asked.

Out of the blue, a purple vortex appeared in between Phobos and Deimos, who seemed otherwise unperturbed. A female Titan stepped forward, dressed in white clothes, her cloak seemingly swirling into endlessness.

"Mnemosyne, you're here." Menoetius rumbled. "What do we do next?"

"You are lucky I'm the Titan of Memory, lest you all be doomed in your slumber," Mnemosyn chided, though her face was that of a wicked smile. "We just need one final artefact to complete the puzzle, and it's located right on this very island."

Annabeth and Percy both looked at each other. _Whatever they're planning, it doesn't sound right. We need to stop them!_

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"Travis, this doesn't seem right," Katie whispered to Travis.

Both of them were bounded by their legs and arms, stuck to a wooden board that was set upright. _A twisted version of cruxification_ , Katie thought dryly.

"Why is it that there are so many Titans present in one area? Whatever they're up to has to be huge, and I mean very big-big." Travis whispered back.

"Zeus will know better than to mess with us next time!" Mnemosyne chuckled sinisterly. "Chaos will soon rule the world!" she cackled.

Katie shivered involuntarily. "We can't just rely on Annabeth and Percy - they're crippled! Think of something!"

Travis smirked, "Relax!" He revealed his unbound hands. "I'm the son of the god of thieves, remember?"

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 **A/N**

Sorry for the delay in the update. I know I promised to deliver it on Monday, but it's 1 week late :(

But the important thing is I'm still here right!

Hope you enjoyed ^.^


	16. Chapter 16: The Artifact

**Chapter 16**

As Travis unbound himself sneakily, Katie could only wonder how in the name of Zeus he managed to free himself from the restrictions. Katie attempted to wiggle her hands and legs in every way possible, failing to even loosen the ropes that were tightly bounded around her ankles and wrists. She sighed in defeat, opting to stare at Travis as he did the impossible. Not wanting to be useless at the moment, she strained her ears for any information on the new Titans.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go and grab our last artifact?" Monoetius rumbled.

Mnemosyne whacked the back of his head, scolding him. "Have you forgotten yet again? Pay attention during my lectures! We can't grab our artefacts, except at a specific time and duration! That's why all the monsters are here, remember?"

Phobos frowned. "I recall the specific time and duration, but why do we need so many monsters? I'd rather have a small group of no less than 20, rather than an entire army of monsters at our disposal."

Mnemosyne waved him away, "You need not worry about wasting monsters. Monsters are literally flooding out of the Underworld by the second, or have you forgotten? Besides," Mnemosyne leaned in to whisper to Phobos, "We need them as sacrifices."

Katie's insides twisted, and she felt like retching. It was one thing to sacrifice demigods to awake Gaia; it was another thing to sacrifice your own monsters, no matter how despicable they are, for your own cause.

Katie furrowed her brows, trying to compile all the new information that she had gathered so far. As of now, the Titans involved included Phobos and Deimos, the twins of Ares; Mnemosyne, the Titaness of Memory; Monoetius, the Titan of Rashness. They were trying to gain all the artefacts for something, and their final artifact was on this last island.

Katie's eyes widened in surprise. _Wait, there were 4 locations in the prophecy - The Arctic Circle, the Bermuda Triangle, the Hot Seat and the Easter Island. Is this just a coincidence that there were 4 locations, and 4 artefacts?_

Katie shook her head. _Too much thinking will make my head explode. Best to leave it for Annabeth._ Katie turned her head to look at Travis and saw that his ankles were already unbound. However, he lay unmoving on the wooden board. He tilted his head towards Katie and shook his head slightly, signalling that he did not want to raise any suspicion by suddenly disappearing.

Katie nodded with determination. What they needed now was a distraction.

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Percy and Annabeth continued creeping towards where their friends lay - where the Titans stood guard. They seemed to be quarrelling about something, though Percy could not decipher what they were saying through the overall sense of chaos brought about by the monsters.

As they neared their destination, Percy noticed that Travis' hands were unbound, and he was moving his ankles in such a weird way Percy was certain Travis would sprain his ankles. To his surprise, the rope around Travis' ankles loosened, and Percy noted the mischievous glint in Travis' eyes as he looked up to Katie, signalling to her using his facial features. Percy smiled. _Looks like there's hope after all._

Another thing that Percy noticed was that the Titans were huge. The only two Titans he had officially faced were Kronos and Gaia - Kronos had been reborn in Luke's body, and so his size was similar to Percy, if not only slightly larger. Gaia, on the other hand, was the literal embodiment of the Earth, and no doubt had a larger size than usual. Now, creeping towards Mnemosyne and Monoetius, Percy noted that they were huge - and even more dangerous. Percy had managed to defeat both Kronos and Gaia, but only with the help of the Gods and his friends. Now, the Gods were nowhere to be found, having closed themselves off in Olympus, while his only friend here was Annabeth, blind and unable to help. Both Katie and Travis were bound though, on the bright side, they were attempting to free themselves from their restraints.

Percy shook his head quickly. _No point dwelling on negative thoughts._

Percy's grip on Annabeth's hand tightened. Annabeth sensing this, squeezed back gently, sending waves of reassurance up Percy's hand.

Soon they reached a point where they could hear their conversation. It seemed that they were arguing over an...artifact?

Annabeth caught up on their conversation as well. An artifact on each location, and the 4 locations listed in the Grand Prophecy. Either someone from Camp Half-Blood passed on the prophecy to them, causing them to have an edge, or they had their own Oracle. The latter seemed more likely though, Annabeth unable to think of anyone who would betray Camp Half-Blood and fault to the Titans' side.

"As of now, we have 2 of the artefacts needed. Though they can still achieve our goal, it is still ultimately safer to have all 4, optimising our chances of success." Mnemosyne continued, "So, as I was saying, the last artifact-" Mnemosyne halted in her speech abruptly, "It seems we have a visitor."

Percy halted in his tracks, sensing something wrong. But it was too late - Mnemosyne swiftly turned towards Percy. "Did you think you can sneak past us, boy?"

Percy was shocked, though he quickly pulled Annabeth behind his back, shielding her from danger with his own body. The monsters around them had gathered around them, leaving a perfect circle, with Percy and Annabeth right smack in the middle. "H-How did you notice us?"

"Pfft, did you really think you could sneak past us? Especially when among the 4 of you, you are the one with a flawed memory," Mnemosyne smirked. "I'll just enjoy myself with this delicious meal." Mnemosyne stared right into Percy's eyes. Percy stared right back, suddenly losing herself in Mnemosyne's eyes. Her eyes were like the very cosmos themselves, and endless field of galaxies and elements; the irises of the eyes doing no justice for the limitless boundary of space.

Percy suddenly snapped out of his trance. "W-What just happened?" In a daze, he wrecked his memories. "I...I can't..." he clutched his head with his hand.

Annabeth was unaware of Percy's predicament. "Try it on me, you witch!" she yelled at Mnemosyne, who merely frowned in response.

"A blind girl, defending a distraught boy. What a delightful memory to hold in my bank, indeed." With a flick of her wrist, all the monsters surged forward at Mnemosyne's command, howls ripping through the air, claws outstretched...

And it all stopped. Percy looked around, confused. Time had slowed down to a stop, and he could even feel his heart halfway in a beat.

Then time rewound...

Percy was lost.

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Travis quickly took the opportunity of Mnemosyne's distraction, jumping and latching onto Katie's board, deftly untying the bounds. As Katie sank to the ground, rubbing her wrists and ankles in relief, Travis whipped his hand towards Percy, only to see him staring right at Mnemosyne. Annabeth was shouting worriedly at Percy, while Mnemosyne seemed to enjoy the situation. Wisps of ultraviolet light were seemingly flowingly from Percy's eyes right into Mnemosyne's, whose irises were spasming like a madman. Her eyes were constantly looking up, down, left and right - Travis would have laughed, if not for the fact that Percy's eyes could potentially in danger.

Annabeth, as a last resort, dug her fingernails painfully into Percy's skin. _Forgive me, Percy._ Percy finally slumped out of his daze, instead slumping straight towards the floor, his muscles losing whatever strength they still held after being tortured by Phobos and Deimos.

Katie surged forward, anger blazing in her eyes. Stretching her hand, stripes of vine grew from beneath the earth, wrapping around all 4 Titans. Grabbing hold of their weapons using the vines, she snapped back, both Katie and Travis catching their respective weapons.

Travis charged forward with a yell, towards the monsters who were starting to look around in confusion as to what exactly happened. A few unlucky souls were sent back straight to the Underworld in the chaos, Travis utilising the distraction to get rid of as many monsters as possible. However, it was only a matter of time before the monsters all took notice and began to focus on Travis. Annabeth, on the other hand, was desperately trying to protect Percy with her sword, bodily shielding him from any harm.

"Useless," Phobos commented, merely flexing his muscles and causing the vines around him to snap. Katie stumbled back from the disruption in her magic, curling her fingers in slight pain. The vines around the other Titans snapped back, and Mnemosyne turned swiftly, facing Katie. Fortunately for her, she caught onto her antics and quickly looked away. Her fingers worked swiftly as magic curled from her fingertips, aiding Annabeth and Travis in protecting Percy.

"ENOUGH." With a boom, all the monsters backed away quickly, Deimos boomed with his eyes turning golden. A huge spear materialised in his hand, and he jumped, landing right before Annabeth, who stumbled backwards. Swiftly, he gripped Percy by the throat and lifted him. Percy was still motionless, though he raised his arms to his neck, trying to loosen Deimos' grip but to no avail. Deimos readied his spear to impale Percy...

An "A sharp" screech sounded, followed by a sudden blast of music. It was more of noise than music, the disharmonious chords booming in disarray. All monsters howled in pain, though the howls were masked by the noise. The demigods clutched their ears, blood leaking out from their burst eardrums. Even the Titans were unable to withstand the noise, being blown back by the noise. Deimos let go of Percy, who plopped onto the floor, unconscious.

Just as abruptly, the cacophony ended. The demigods quickly stumbled to their feet, holding onto one another for support. They ran straight for the docks, knowing that they could not defeat the army of monsters. Even if they were that powerful, they did not have the help of the Gods to defeat the Titans, which would ultimately lead to their demise.

Annabeth briefly thought about Percy, though she could hear someone else's footsteps, as well as a creature of four legs, running behind her. _If Travis and Katie are in front of me, and there are 6 steps behind me, it's got to be them!_

The demigods thanked the Gods when they reached the WSP. They had already lost all sight of the army of monsters and Titans. Stopping finally after at least a mile sprint, Katie and Travis turned, only to see a stranger that they had never seen before, carrying Percy as if he was nothing. Setting Percy down, Annabeth leaned him on herself, and slowly climbed up the ship, with the help of the ghost captain.

"Who are you?" Travis asked, curious of the stranger that had helped them.

"That's not the question that is most urgent right now. Where did you get this?" the stranger lifted up the contraption.

It was Katie's turn to ask a question. "Where did you get that? A creature stole this for us the moment we left our ship!"

"You mean this little guy here?" the stranger motioned at his feet, pointing at the creature that was seated obediently between the leg. The creature looked down sheepishly, whining and using its snout to nuzzle the stranger's thigh. The creature sighed, "No matter. I'm returning this to you, but it's really important that you keep it safe and out of evil's clutches."

"Do you know what it is?" Travis asked.

"I just know that it goes back to the beginning of time."

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ • ஜ۩۞۩ஜ • ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

 **A/N**

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^.^

Made it while listening to Nightcore music :P

Note: not really sure about artifact vs. artefact :/

R&Rs are appreciated!


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